


My High School Love Story

by tomatojuicee



Category: Cube Trainees, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Best Friends, Cube chicks living an innocent happy life, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2018-11-15 12:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11231244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatojuicee/pseuds/tomatojuicee
Summary: Series of connected one-shots featuring Guanlin as the new foreign student from Taiwan, Seonho as his guide to the new school, and the ensuing best-friendery.Slice of life fic with lots of youthful shenanigans.





	1. Day 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just an on-going fic dedicated to how precious Guanlin and Seonho are. Each chapter is it's own one-shot but they do build on each other so it's best to read in order. But if you wanted to skip around you wouldn't have that much trouble!

Guanlin shuffled into his new homeroom class on the first day of school. He was nervous but resolved to make a good impression. But as if the first day at a new school wasn’t nerve-wracking enough, Guanlin was attending a boarding school in a new country in which he barely knew the alphabet.

“Everyone, this is our new classmate, Lai Guanlin, he’s a foreign student from Taiwan. Please welcome him warmly.” The teacher recited. Guanlin could see the students’ attention being drawn and feel their eyes scanning him and sizing him up. He bowed, gave his most friendly smile and hazarded a little wave with his fingers. The sea of faces in front of him seemed mostly warm so he counted that as a win.

“Guanlin, your assigned seat is in the 3rd row next to Yoo Seonho, Seonho, please raise your hand.” The teacher pointed to an empty seat next to a boy with bright eyes and thick circle spectacles raising his hand with an eager smile. 

When Guanlin reached his seat he stuck out a hand to Seonho. “Lai Guanlin.”

Seonho accepted the handshake and said, “I know. Yoo Seonho.” 

Guanlin smiled. “I know. Nice to meet you.” Seonho nodded and turned to the front again. The teacher was talking about something; Guanlin pieced together that it related to beginning of the school year announcements, but he couldn’t completely follow. Eventually the teacher began handing out each student’s schedule for the year. Guanlin’s schedule was placed on his desk and he set about reading the Korean carefully and rewriting his schedule in the margins in Chinese.

“What’s your schedule look like?” A voice came from his left. Guanlin was so absorbed in translating that he jumped when the boy next to him spoke. 

“Huh? Sorry, what did you say?” Guanlin turned to, what was his name? Right, Seonho.

“I was asking about your schedule. Hey, your Korean isn’t so good huh?” Seonho peered at him through his laughably dorky glasses. 

Guanlin flushed a bit. “Ah- I, I, not really.” He tried to subtly slide his hand over where he was writing Chinese on his schedule. 

“I could tell,” Seonho grinned, “let me help read your schedule!” He seemed enthusiastic about it, so Guanlin sheepishly handed it over, self-conscious of his quick Chinese scrawl off to the side. “It says... History with Kahi Teacher, oh! I’m in that class too... Math with Lee Seokhoon Teacher, oh I feel so sorry for you Guanlin, he’s known for being the hardest! You have Literature with Shin Yumi Teacher, lucky for you I have her too so I can help you with your Korean!” Seonho continued like that, rattling off Guanlin’s schedule and inserting his own anecdotal comments. 

“Wow, Chinese is such a pretty language!” Seonho suddenly exclaimed, pointing to where Guanlin had written on his schedule.

A little smile escaped onto the corner of Guanlin’s lips. “Um, thanks.” This guy sure had energy. 

Just then the teacher called the class to attention. Seonho handed Guanlin’s schedule back, but whispered behind his hand, “we’ll compare schedules after homeroom ends, okay?”

Guanlin couldn’t help but chuckle, because hadn’t Seonho basically just told him all the classes they had together anyways?

 

\---

 

Seonho hoped he wasn’t coming off too strong on the new guy. He had restrained himself a lot more than usual just because Guanlin was probably new to the language, otherwise he would have asked for all the essentials, like favorite sport, favorite song, and favorite pizza topping. He didn’t really know himself why the Taiwanese boy interested him so much, but he just settled on Guanlin being Cool. Cool with a capital “C”. He had an air about him, and Seonho could tell the other students in class (especially the girls) had noticed it too.

The first day of homeroom was usually the most interesting, what with announcements of back to school festivals, new clubs, and opportunities to try out for sports teams and academic extracurriculars, but this year Seonho missed everything the teacher said, too busy tapping his pencil and waiting for the bell to ring so he could talk to Guanlin again. When the bell finally rang, Seonho turned to Guanlin’s desk so fast he almost got whiplash, and was about to open his mouth to say something when-

  
“Yoo Seonho, can I talk to you for a moment?” Seonho wilted at his bad luck but made to get up out of his desk and talk to the teacher. “And Lai Guanlin, you come too.” Seonho perked up a little at that, shrugging at the confused look Guanlin gave him and trotting to the front.

“It’s come to myself and the administration’s attention that Guanlin is a very special case of a foreign student new to our school.” The teacher began. “For this reason we would like to assign a guide of sorts to you for the first couple of weeks at this school. Seonho, you were chosen as the most suitable candidate. The administration wants you to familiarize Guanlin with the campus, help him with his Korean, and show him opportunities for him to get involved with extracurricular organizations.” The teacher looked between the two boys for any dissent. Seonho looked back with a chipper smile. “Is this arrangement agreeable for the both of you?”

Seonho had a feeling that even if he didn’t want to do this, their teacher would give him no choice, but luckily he was happy for the chance to get to know the Taiwanese boy better, so he gave an emphatic “Yes, teacher!” Guanlin agreed with a wordless nod.

“I’m glad to hear that. In that case you boys better get to your next class.”

“Okay!” Seonho chirped and headed out the door. “Guanlin,” he turned to check that the other boy was following him, “what class do you have next?”

“Ah- I have... history.” Guanlin replied after lengthy consultation of his schedule.

Seonho grinned ear to ear. “Me too! Let’s go together.”

 

\---

 

“And this is the math wing, your classroom is gonna be Room 816. Oh! And this is the Stairwell, all the potheads hang out here and the math teachers pretend they don’t smell anything after lunch period.” Seonho was chattering away as he waltzed through the halls of Guanlin’s new school, the Taiwanese boy jogging at some points to keep pace. They had finished their first day of school and he had suggested he give Guanlin a proper tour of the school. Something about Seonho’s unbridled enthusiasm made him likeable to Guanlin. Sure, he seemed a little crazy, but in a good way. 

After about an hour of narration from Seonho, they had finally covered the entire campus. “We should go to our dorms now,” Seonho said. 

Guanlin nodded. “Mine is Room 109.”

Seonho’s eyebrows shot up exaggeratedly. Guanlin held back a smile at the comical reaction. “Me too!” Seonho exclaimed. “Does this mean we're roommates?!”

“Should we go find out?” Guanlin replied.

 

First they retrieved their bags from temporary storage in the front offices where they had dropped them off in the morning, and then set off for the dorms. They reached Room 109 at the very end of the dorm hall and both of them pulled the keys they had received from the administration out at the same time. They looked at each other awkwardly for half a second wondering who would unlock the door until Seonho giggled and stepped aside gesturing grandly to the door. “All yours.”

Guanlin unlocked the door with probably more anticipation than he should have. It swung open to reveal a tiny dorm room not more than ten feet wide with a single bunk bed and two desks tucked into the remaining space. Beside him Guanlin heard a squeal. He realized that it was Seonho making a sound of delight.

“It’s a single! Guanlin, we’re so lucky!” Seonho all but shrieked. His eyes were wide and his smile brought his mouth up nearly to his nose. “You know everyone else has two or three bunks in their rooms, but since we have a room at the end of the hall they must have run out of space and made the room super small for two!” He ran into the room with his bags swinging around him and Guanlin followed in a more calm manner. He was surprised to realize that although he wasn’t as forthright in showing it, he might be just as excited to be roommates with Seonho as the other boy was.

“Wow.” Once Guanlin was inside, the dorm felt even smaller than he had thought. He planted one foot at the side of the bunk bed and spread his legs out so that his other foot touched the opposing wall, quite easily in fact. Seonho assumed the same position (his legs were also long, although not quite as long as Guanlin’s,) and folded his arms.

“So... who gets the top bunk?” There was a glint of challenge in Seonho’s eyes, and even though he didn’t care much about which bunk he got, Guanlin decided to play along with him.

“Me, obviously.” Guanlin replied.

“We’ll see about _that_ ,” Seonho said, right as he started to scramble for the ladder. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Guanlin grit his teeth and lunged for the ladder as well. Their feet collided on the first rung and Seonho was quick to give Guanlin a shove away. Guanlin grabbed onto his pushing hands and yanked him off the ladder, sending them both to the floor. Seonho landed right on top of Guanlin’s chest with an ungraceful squawk and a high-pitched giggle. He jumped back up to get to the ladder again, but Guanlin grabbed his ankle and held him in place.

“Let me goooooo!” Seonho exclaimed, kicking his ankle futilely. Guanlin burst into laughter but sensed his opportunity and, as quickly as possible, released Seonho’s ankle while springing from the ground himself and throwing his foot all the way onto the third rung of the ladder.  _ Oh crap _ . Guanlin suddenly realized his miscalculation. His leg was stretched so high that he was totally off-balance, and he was already wobbling before Seonho pulled him back. He hit the floor with in a bout of laughter and watched as Seonho scampered all the way up to the top bunk, giggling triumphantly.

Guanlin lay on the floor trying to recover from his laughter while Seonho stuck his head down from the top bunk. His face was red and bright as the sun with mirth. “How’s the air down there, huh?” He teased triumphantly.

“It’s not so bad, actually.” Guanlin said with a huge smile.

“Okayyyy, if you say so.”

It was silent for some time except for both boys huffing, partially from the energy they exerted fighting over the top bunk, and partially because both of them had laughed so much. Guanlin eventually heard some shuffling sounds from the top bunk and realized Seonho had buried himself under the covers. The other boy reached down and flipped the light switch, turning the world dark, and started snoring exaggeratedly.

“Hey!” Guanlin protested.

“HaaaaaAAAAAaaugh,” Seonho feigned a huge yawn, “Oh Guanlin, I’m so tired, I hope you’re comfortable down there on the floor because I’m about to knock out.”

“I’m doing fine down here.” But Guanlin’s pout was audible in his voice.

There was a tiny giggle from above. “Okayyyy. I’m gonna go to sleep now.” A couple beats of silence and then a surprisingly soft “goodnight, Guanlin.”

“Sure, goodnight.” Guanlin rumbled from the floor. He lay there for a bit more, feeling too lazy to get up. No more sounds came from the top bunk, and eventually Guanlin rose and stood on his tiptoes to peek at the other boy. He was fast asleep, glasses still resting, slightly askew, on his nose. The corners of Guanlin’s mouth couldn’t help but go up.

He got ready for bed himself and slipped under his covers. “Goodnight, Seonho,” he whispered, and closed his eyes with a smile on his face. He had a good feeling about this new school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Seonho fell asleep with his school clothes still on. He would do that.  
> Part of the point of this story is to capture all of the cliche high school tropes, so if there's one you want to see tell me and I'll probablyyy end up including it somewhere! Cube chicks are way too cute and perfect for this kind of story.


	2. Linderella and the Enormous Basketball Shoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guanlin and Seonho are ready for basketball tryouts, there's just one little problem...

A couple weeks at Guanlin’s new school had passed. Everything was going smoothly. Seonho was actually a very thorough and attentive guide, often answering Guanlin’s questions before he even asked them. Guanlin was introduced to Seonho’s friends, who, unsurprisingly, were quite the rowdy bunch, but Guanlin was content to be a spectator to their daily antics. Who knows, maybe when he got a bit better at Korean he would join in. His schoolwork was also going well despite learning in a new language. He was shocked to find out that Seonho was just as sharp (or maybe sharper) than him, having earned all A’s in middle school. The bespectacled boy’s ditzy personality certainly did a good job of belying his academic prowess.

It was business as usual walking through the halls to homeroom with Seonho when the other boy’s attention was caught by a flyer pinned to one of the pillars. “Guanlin, look!” Seonho pointed.

Guanlin took a closer look at the sloppily designed flyer, which had a pixelated, blown up picture of some guy wearing a blue and gray basketball uniform and taking a jump shot. Written across the picture in neon green were the words “BASKETBALL TRY-OUTS THIS THURSDAY IN THE GYM!!” Guanlin winced at how ugly the flyer looked. “Basketball try-outs?” He wondered aloud. He had played back in Taiwan and was kinda itching to get back on the court.

“I really want to try-out!” Seonho exclaimed. “I played in middle school too.”

“What?! You too?” Guanlin replied.

“Oh, you play basketball too?” Seonho made a show of measuring how tall Guanlin was with his hands. “Makes sense.”

Guanlin laughed. “I think I’m gonna try-out too.”

“That’s awesome! Hey, but don’t go stealing my spot on the team.” Seonho made an exaggerated pout, which Guanlin noticed he did often. When girls at his old school did it he would get annoyed, but Seonho was kinda cute.

“Um, I’ll try not to.”

 

\---

 

They were getting ready for bed on the day before try-outs when Guanlin suddenly remembered something. “Seonho,” he started.

“Wha-argt?” Seonho said through a mouthful of snacks.

“I just realized, I don’t have any basketball shoes!”

“BWAHAT??” Chips exploded out of Seonho’s mouth as his eyes bugged out in shock. “What are you gonna do??”

Guanlin frowned, “I have no idea...”

Seonho hopped out of his desk chair and went to their tiny closet. He reached in a pulled out a pair of basketball shoes (presumably his) and came back to Guanlin. “Try these.”

“You’re really gonna give me your basketball shoes?”

Seonho just shrugged. “Try them on.”

Guanlin took the shoes and pushed his toes in. That was as far as he got.

“Holy crap, your feet are HUGE!” Seonho exclaimed. Guanlin was staring sadly at the shoes dangling halfway off his feet.

“What am I gonna do, hey-! That hurts!” Guanlin yelped. Seonho was trying to shove the shoes onto Guanlin’s feet, but he was certainly not succeeding.

Seonho fell onto his butt from his position squatting at Guanlin’s feet. “Linderella, it looks like the slipper doesn’t fit.”

“Lin-de-re-la?” Guanlin asked. Maybe this was a vocabulary word he didn’t know.

“Cinderella and Guanlin, Linderella!” Seonho grinned.

Guanlin immediately burst into laugher and gave Seonho a playful hit. “So we need to look for my prince?”

“No!” Seonho huffed his bangs out of his face. “I’m the Prince, I gotta find your slipper!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how the story goes...” Guanlin said, but Seonho was staring at him. “But okay, sure.”

 

\---

  
  


The next day at homeroom was a mess, mostly because Seonho was constantly leaning out of his desk to ask various classmates what their shoe size was. “Heyyy, Hyunwoo, you’re pretty tall right?” Seonho whisper-shouted to a classmate two desks away, after several previous failures.  The teacher was conveniently facing the board and he was balanced precariously on the corner of his chair, gripping the side of his desk for dear life to keep him from crashing to the floor.

Hyunwoo’s head swivelled around with a slightly irate expression. He signed deeply. “What is it Seonho?”

“What’s your shoe size?”

Hyunwoo’s face screwed up in confusion. “Size 12, why?” His voice was tinged with annoyance.

Seonho’s eyes went wide and he whipped around to Guanlin and mouthed, “ _ That’s your size! _ ” At that exact moment, he started to lose his balance and slide off his chair. His mouth formed a perfect “o” in shock, as if in slow motion. Guanlin jumped out of his desk and grabbed Seonho by the uniform to drag him back into his seat hastily. Lucky for them, their homeroom teacher chose that exact instant to to turn around.

“What are you boys doing?”

Seonho and Guanlin locked eyes searching for answers in the other. After a couple beats Seonho blurted, “Guanlin was having trouble understanding! I was helping him understand what you were saying, that’s why he’s at my desk.”

Their teacher immediately smiled. “Why thank you Seonho, you’re doing great.”

Guanlin could practically feel his classmate’s eyes rolling into the backs of their heads. Boy, Seonho could really get away with everything. “So, Guanlin,” Seonho began. Guanlin saw the teacher giving them an approving look and realized Seonho’s excuse also gave them a free pass to talk. The kid was really a genius. “Hyunwoo has the same size foot as you. Maybe he has basketball shoes?”

“Let’s ask him after class,” Guanlin replied.

The rest of homeroom passed by with Seonho actually helping Guanlin understand what was being said (of course, he was a good kid after all,) and when the bell rang the two headed over to Hyunwoo’s desk, where the guy in question was packing his stuff up.

Hyunwoo spotted them and said, “Okay,  _ now _ what is it?”

Seonho had the decency to look apologetic. “Sorry for bothering you in class today, but do you possibly have basketball shoes?”

Hyunwoo gave him weird look and answered shortly, “No.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder, muttering something about weirdos and finding Moonbok. Seonho turned to face Guanlin with a deflated look.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Guanlin said. “I’ll figure something out.”

“No, I’ve got to find you a pair of shoes that fit! It’s my job as Prince Charming.”

“I’m surprised they hired you for that job in the first place.”

“Hey!”

 

\---

 

They arrived at the cafeteria and went to sit with Seonho’s group of friends after getting their food.  Seated in order from right to left was Daehwi, Haknyeon, Jinyoung, Jihoon, and Samuel. They were already in the midst of a heated conversation as Guanlin and Seonho approached.

“Haknyeon, how can you be so against bacon on the menu today when you were practically filming a chicken cf when it was served yesterday?” Jihoon was saying.

“Pigs are the most precious animals in the world! I didn’t raise pigs all my life for them to be slaughtered and eaten by gluttonous humans!” Haknyeon said indignantly.

“He says that as if he’s raised pigs outside of his Farmville account.” Samuel remarked dryly.

Daehwi snickered. “Is anyone friends with him on that game? His whole farm is filled with pigs.”

“Uh, no, no one else plays that game other than you guys.” Jihoon said.

“Farmville is a GREAT game.” Daehwi and Haknyeon crossed their arms at the same time.

“And back to the topic at hand, pigs are cute, beautiful, glorious creatures. Chickens are ugly their whole lives from eggs to chicks to full grown walking rotisseries.” Haknyeon argued.

“Hey!” Seonho interjected.

Guanlin chuckled. “I think our resident chick takes offense to that.” The others at the circular table scooted so Guanlin and Seonho could take a seat.

“Well I said what I said!” Haknyeon announced with finality.

“Maybe Haknyeon has played Farmville so much that he’s developed a metaphysical connection to pigs, and he feels pain every time we take a bite of the bacon.” Jinyoung finally spoke. Seonho immediately started gnashing on his bacon.

“Wow...” Jihoon said, “that’s Deep.” A couple seconds afterward, completely inexplicably, he winked. Everyone else at the table made eye contact with varying degrees of  _ why do we know this person _ .

“ANYways,” Seonho broke the silence. “Moving on to things that actually matter, the basketball tryouts are today!”

“Ooh! I’m going!” Haknyeon said.

“So are me and Guanlin!” Seonho said grabbing Guanlin by his arm. Guanlin winced internally, though it didn’t look like it Seonho was  _ strong _ , but gave a smile. “Samuel, what about you? You played last year right?”

“Sorry, I’m already busy enough dealing with all the divas on the dance team...” Samuel suddenly coughed up a sound that sounded suspiciously like “Daehwi”.

“Okay Muel, I’m not nearly as bad as Jungjung and Eunki, and you know it.” Daehwi pointed out.

“You’re right, they’re nightmares.” Samuel groaned.

“Muel!” Seonho exclaimed. “What shoe size do you wear?”

Everyone around the table was confused. Guanlin couldn’t help but laugh a little. “It’s 9. Why?”

Seonho groaned. “Guanlin, we’re never gonna find you shoes in time.”

“Why do you need to find him shoes?” asked Jihoon.

“I didn’t bring my basketball shoes from Taiwan.” Guanlin explained. “I have nothing to wear for tryouts today.”

“Yeah, and we’ve been asking everyone we know if they have a pair he can borrow, but Guanlin’s feet are just too big!”

“You know what they say about guys with big feet,” Daehwi said out of the side of his mouth.

The rest of the table snorted while Guanlin felt his face heat up. “Shut up, Daehwi,” he said half-heartedly.

“Yeah, Guanlin is getting all pink.” Seonho fanned Guanlin’s face with his hands.

“Watch out, you’re gonna hit me! This face is precious.” Guanlin batted Seonho’s hands away smiling.

Hakyeon shrugged, “You can always tryout in the school uniform shoes.”

Guanlin stared down at his K-Swiss HOKE EQs (tm) sadly. “I guess these will have to do.”

 

\---

 

Guanlin stepped out of the lockers wearing a t-shirt, basketball shorts, and his school uniform shoes. He took a big sigh. The circumstances weren’t ideal, but he would try his best to perform on the court and make the team.

“Linderella!” Seonho bounded up behind him. “Are you ready to play?” Seonho was also dressed in his basketball attire, and he had taken his glasses off. Guanlin thought the transformation was astounding. In his school uniform, Seonho had the appearance of a textbook nerd. A cute nerd, obviously, but still gangly, glasses slightly tilted, with an innocent smile pasted on his face. The boy before him now was lanky and handsome, though the innocent smile remained, reminding Guanlin that the Seonho he knew hadn’t gone anywhere.

“He’s kinda cool when he takes his glasses off, right?” Haknyeon followed right behind Seonho.

“Yeah, I was shocked.” Guanlin agreed.

“By the way, ‘Linderella’?” Haknyeon asked.

“Yeah, because Guanlin needs to find the slipper, aka basketball shoe, that fits.” Seonho explained.

Haknyeon started cracking up. “Guanlin, I’m glad you’re Seonho’s friend. He’s needed one of those for a while.”

“Are you saying you’re not my friend?!” Seonho mocked offense.

Guanlin watched in amusement as Seonho and Haknyeon bickered back and forth until a very tall (meaning VERY TALL) guy jogged up to the trio. He had a round bottom lip and slanted eyes that got even smaller when he smiled and said “I’m Hyunbin, are you guys trying out for the basketball team?”

Guanlin nodded. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Haknyeon craning his neck up in order to see this guy’s face, and he tried not to laugh.

“I’m Seonho, these are my friends Guanlin and Haknyeon.” The other boy chirped. “Hold on... Guanlin, he looks kinda familiar right?”

Guanlin took another look at Hyunbin. Now that Seonho mentioned it, he did look familiar. He squinted his eyes and- that was it! He was the guy whose fuzzy pixelated picture was on the tryouts flyer! “You’re the one on that ugly flyer!” Guanlin blurted in his excitement of figuring out where he had seen Hyunbin before.

“Omigosh Guanlin you’re right!” Seonho exclaimed. “It  _ was _ ugly!”

Suddenly Hyunbin looked very sad. “Hyunbin, are you alright?” Haknyeon asked.

The big guy was silent for awhile before saying with his unusually deep voice, “I designed the flyer myself...”

If Guanlin had been drinking water he would have spat it out. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize-” He began.

Hyunbin held a hand up. “It’s okay, I know I’m no artist. None of the other guys on the team wanted to make the flyers, so they forced the captain to do it.”

“Wait, you’re the CAPTAIN?” Haknyeon asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Hyunbin said, scratching the back of his head. Guanlin and Seonho both went pale when they realized they had insulted the captain of the basketball team. “Uh, Guanlin was it?” Hyunbin began. Guanlin hesitantly nodded. “Why are you wearing your school uniform shoes?”

Before Guanlin could open his mouth to respond, Seonho jumped in and told the basketball shoeless Linderella story for maybe the 100th time today.

“Size 12? He can borrow my shoes today, since technically I don’t have to try out, I’m already the captain.”

Seonho’s jaw dropped. “Guanlin, I found your slipper!”

_ More like my slipper found me _ , Guanlin thought to himself, but opted to pull Seonho into a one-armed hug. “Thank you, my Prince Charming,” he said dramatically, raising his free hand to his forehead. Haknyeon stood to the side observing that Guanlin was truly awful at acting.

Hyunbin must have thought the same because he quickly took off his shoes and thrust them into the pair’s arms before jogging off to the other side of the court with a “You’re welcome!”

“Thank you Captain!” Guanlin called after him. The three of them watched him almost slip and fall in his socks on the slick gym floor before righting himself and continuing on.

“Kinda clumsy for a captain, don’t you think?” Haknyeon said.

“Maybe, but he seems like a  _ great _ guy.” Seonho said. Guanlin couldn’t help but agree.

 

\---

 

A whistle sounded in the gym and the tryouts were on. Guanlin threw himself into the game, enjoying handling the ball again for the first time since he left Taiwan. The warmup drills and basic skill evaluations were a cinch for Guanlin, who had always been painstakingly meticulous about the fundamentals of his basketball playing. From what he saw, it looked like Seonho and Haknyeon weren’t so shabby either.

Then it came time for shooting drills. Each player was supposed to receive passes at various distances from rim and shoot the ball right afterwards, and then sprint to get the next pass at the next spot on the court. Guanlin was one of the first players up. Shooting wasn’t his strongest skill, especially not when speed was required of him, but he focused on planting his feet correctly and following through after the ball left his hands. He was able to get 7 out of 10 baskets, which he was happy with. It wasn’t the lowest number posted by any means.

A couple other players went, and then it was Seonho’s turn. The other boy stepped up to the first place he was to shoot from and closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. When the whistle blew, signaling for him to start, his eyes snapped open and his hands moved like lightning to catch the ball at his chest and bring it above his head to shoot in one fluid motion. Seonho jumped as he released his shot, and the ball seemed to slide off his fingertips like it was the easiest thing in the world. Guanlin turned his head to follow the shot’s gorgeous arc before it dropped into the hoop with a swish; all net. Seonho was already racing across the court for the next pass, which he caught and pivoted cleanly to the basket for another perfectly executed shot. There was a look of concentration on Seonho’s face that Guanlin had never seen before as he flitted to and fro on the court, raining baskets and making it look way too easy. With every shot he made, the exclamations of the spectating players grew louder and louder.  When his final shot, from the 3-point line, fell into the basket, he looked up with a smile and his eyes found Guanlin’s. Guanlin was sure he was making a completely gob-smacked expression. Seonho was a shooting genius! The rest of the players on the court were whistling or howling at the performance. Haknyeon gave Seonho a clap on the back when he trotted back to where he and Guanlin were standing.

“I knew you were good, but not THAT good,” Haknyeon said.

“You’re crazy, Seonho,” Guanlin said.

Seonho had that goofy smile on his face, a total 180 degree turn from his cool concentration during the drill. He shrugged. “I just like shooting.”

Haknyeon pouted, “Then I wish I liked shooting.”

 

The rest of the try-outs passed uneventfully and at the end, all the boys lined up on the court to hear who would make the team. Hyunbin jogged to the front, still wearing his socks which had inched off a bit so that fronts flapped free when he moved his feet. It looked hilarious and very uncaptainly, and Guanlin could see Seonho trying not to giggle.

“Hi everyone, the coaches and I have finished our evaluations and I have the list of players that made the cut here!” Hyunbin held up a piece of paper and waved it around. “I’ll begin reading the names now.”

Guanlin felt a nudge at his hand and looked down. It was Seonho’s hand. Seonho was looking at him imploringly. Guanlin slipped his hand into Seonho’s and gave it a little squeeze. This seemed to satisfy the other boy, and he turned to face the front with a smile.

“...Kim Sangbin, Kim Yongguk, Joo Haknyeon,” Hyunbin read. Guanlin and Seonho both gave Haknyeon a huge smile.

“Kim Taedong, Yoo Seonho,” When Seonho heard his name he jumped up and down a little in excitement.  _ You’re next, _ he mouthed to Guanlin. Guanlin could only hope. He suddenly realized he was nervous. The next few names flashed by, but Guanlin was too high-strung to hear them. He was aware that a lot of names had been called, and there were only a couple spots left on the team.

“Kim Sanggyun.”

“Jung Dongsu.”

“...and Lai Guanlin.” Guanlin immediately sagged with relief. “That’s all for the team, congratulations on everyone who made it, and for those who didn’t, we hope to see you guys next year!”

“Guanlinnie we all made it!” Seonho exclaimed.

“Great job guys,” Haknyeon remarked.

Guanlin could only smile. He was thrilled to be able to play basketball again, especially with his new friends.

The three of them approached Hyunbin a bit afterwards to return the captain’s shoes. “Thanks so much Hyunbin,” Guanlin said, “you really saved me today.”

Hyunbin grinned. “I’m just doing my job looking out for my players. After all, I’m your captain now.”

“We can’t wait for this season!” Seonho chirped.

“Neither can I.” Hyunbin replied. “If there’s anything you guys need, just let me know.” The three younger guys nodded their heads fervently. 

The captain paused. “Except for designing flyers. I’m never doing that again.”

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

After credits scene

Guanlin and Seonho were both laying in bed ready to go to sleep the night after tryouts.

“Seonho?” Guanlin said in the dark.

“What?”

“You should start wearing contacts more often.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, it makes you look,” Guanlin stopped for a moment, searching for the word. “good.” He settled on.

“Are you saying I look  _ bad _ with my glasses on?”

“I’m just saying, if you took them off you wouldn’t lose  _ quite _ as much when you stand next to me.”

“...I hate you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first two chapters have been mainly from Guanlin's POV since it's about him getting settled in his new school but hopefully there will be a Seonho chapter soon (?) and some of the supporting cast is introduced!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this one, I promise real juicy content is coming, I just have to get the early chapters out of the way. As always comments, feedback, and suggestions are welcome :)


	3. Nation's Tutor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guanlin is smart, but he's not doing so hot when it comes to writing essays in Korean. Fortunately, there's a tutor to help him out.

 

Guanlin stared at his Korean essay, which he had just received back from his teacher. A bold red ‘D’ stared back at him. He felt like ‘D’ for Dying. Back in Taiwan, he had never received anything less than an A-, ever. After a grueling staredown with the stapled pieces of paper, he sighed, got up out of his chair, and made the brave march to Ms. Kahi’s desk.

“Guanlin,” she looked up with that signature kind yet scary expression, “did you come to ask me questions about your essay?”

Guanlin was pretty sure she knew the answer to that one, but nodded anyways.

“About what specifically?” She asked.

“Just about, um, how did I get this grade and how can I improve?”

Kahi gave him an apologetic smile and Guanlin knew immediately that he was in for it. “Guanlin, I understand that you moved here from Taiwan quite recently, and you’re still learning the language,” she began. “I’m actually quite impressed with your conversational Korean skills, but unfortunately you simply lack the mastery of formal vocabulary and grammar to write an a proper essay. I can clearly see where you’re trying to go with the quotes you’ve chosen, so it’s not as if you’re bad at writing essays, but you need to improve your Korean if you want to improve your grades.”

Guanlin nodded. He wasn’t surprised, all of the time he spent writing his essay having been more than enough to convince him he needed to improve. “Do you have anything I can work on outside of regular class assignments?”

“No, but I can refer you to a tutor. He’s studying at the nearby university now, but he was a student of mine when he attended this high school. He’s helped lots of my students improve their writing and he’s a great guy who does it all for free. Here’s his number, just text him and tell him you need a tutor. I’ll let him know as well.” Kahi scribbled down the information on a post-it note and handed it to Guanlin. “Also, because you’re a special case, I’ll give you the opportunity to rewrite this essay and turn it in again for a different grade.” She gave him an encouraging look. “Guanlin, I know you’re bright, so with some help I’m certain you can succeed in this class.”

Guanlin breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Ms. Kahi. I won’t let you down.” He said, and headed to pack up his stuff. He was overjoyed that he could resubmit his essay, because if not, his grade would have been permanently weighed down. Hopefully the tutor Kahi was talking about was good at what he did, because Guanlin knew that he needed a  _ lot _ of help. He looked at the post-it she had given him. There was a phone number, and written below it was ‘Kim Jonghyun, NATION’S TUTOR’. ‘Nation’s tutor’ was in all caps and underlined twice. Guanlin’s brows went up. He hoped this guy lived up to the hefty claim.

 

\---

 

At the lunch table, Guanlin slapped his essay face down on food grody surface.

Sitting next him, Seonho jumped. “Guanlin, are you alright?”

“See for yourself.” Guanlin pointed to the essay.

Seonho gingerly turned it over, careful of the food bits from the table, and immediately looked as if he had been hit. Guanlin saw the table collectively suck in a sympathetic breath.

“I'm sorry man,” Samuel patted Guanlin on the back.

“It happens to the best of us,” Daehwi offered. “Especially since you just moved here.”

“Yeah, well now I've got to rewrite the whole thing so I can resubmit it.” Guanlin said. “Ms. Kahi recommended this tutor to me, she even wrote that he was the nation’s tutor on the post-it she gave me.”

Seonho snorted. “I never expected Ms. Kahi to write something like that.”

“Are you gonna call him?” Jinyoung stopped meticulously organizing the foods on his plate to ask. While he wasn't paying attention, Jihoon mixed them up again. “Hey!” Jinyoung exclaimed, giving Jihoon a friendly push.

“I'm innocent!” Jihoon said, putting his arms up in mock surrender. “Anyways, yeah Guanlin, are you gonna call him?”

“I mean, I have to, right? My Korean isn't getting better on its own.”

“Couldn't Seonho just help you?” Haknyeon asked.

“I tried to help him with this one,” Seonho said, having the decency to look apologetic.

“But  _ obviously _ you didn't help me enough considering-” Guanlin began to object.

“Yeah, yeah, Guanlinnie we know how that turned out.” Seonho rushed to make amends, “I'm sorry, I have my own essays to write you know? There were just so many things to correct... if I fixed everything I would have rewritten the whole thing.” He was pouting a bit and the whole table laughed at his last statement. Guanlin smiled sheepishly. Seonho had a point there.

“‘Guanlinnie’?” Samuel asked.

“Yeah,” Seonho replied with enthusiasm, “it sounds cute doesn't it?” Samuel merely shrugged and Guanlin swore he saw Daehwi make eye contact with Hakyeon and wiggle his eyebrows in his periphery. “Plus, it's a sure fire way to get him to smile,” he turned to Guanlin, “right Linderella? Oops, I mean Guanlinnie.”

Guanlin couldn't help but burst into an open mouthed laugh. He had to admit, he found both nicknames very cute, but mostly because it they were just a part of Seonho’s idiosyncratic antics. Just this morning, Seonho had insisted that they not leave the door until his watch read an even number of seconds on the clock. For good luck, he had said. Guanlin was just about to share this anecdote with the table when Haknyeon started choking on his food. Jinyoung gave him a hard thump on the back and a gob of fried rice flew out Haknyeon’s mouth just as two guys walked up to the table. Guanlin definitely recognized them from the hallways but he didn’t know their names.

“Haknyeon, are you okay?” The shorter of them asked with a creased brow, bending towards the boy in question. His ears stuck out, making him resemble a troubled monkey.

Haknyeon’s face was red as his took a big gulp of water and swallowed. “I’m fine,” he said, unable to meet the other guy’s eyes.

“Don’t eat so quickly, I know you must be hungry from all that basketball, but choking doesn’t help.” Monkey guy had on a genuine expression of concern.

Haknyeon scratched the back of his head, finally looking at the other guy, still pink. “Thanks, I’ll try to slow down.”

Monkey straightened and smiled. “Anyways, I came by to let you know that the student council is putting on a Talent Show again this year and everyone would really love it if you could b-boy in the show again.” He reached into his bag and fished out a piece of paper and a pen. “Here’s the signup form! We all hope you can perform again this year.”

“O-oh, thank you!” Haknyeon accepted the paper and pen, but accidentally dropped the pen. It rolled off the table and under Jinyoung’s chair. “Oops,” Haknyeon squeaked and bent over to retrieve it. After a couple moments of reaching futilely, Jinyoung reached down himself and handed the pen to Haknyeon. Haknyeon reappeared from the table and opened his mouth to say something, but the other guy that monkey was with tapped monkey on the shoulder. “We should head to the lunch line before they’re out of food,” he said with a flick of his head in the direction.

“Oh you’re right, Haknyeon consider it!” Monkey gave one last glance to Haknyeon as he and his friend departed.

As soon as the pair left, the other members of the table, who had been maintaining studiously straight faces through the whole exchange, burst out in a mixture of laughter, whistles, and ‘ow ow OWWW’s.

“Man Haknyeon, you’re way too far in.” Jihoon remarked.

“That was  _ quite _ the performance.” Samuel agreed.

“And the Oscar for Best Performance in a Romcom goes to... Joo Haknyeon!” Seonho deepened his voice exaggeratedly to imitate an announcer.

Haknyeon covered his face in his hands. “Just stop guys, I know, I know.”

“We just didnt think it was  _ that _ bad, the last time you saw him you were able to walk away without serious damage to your dignity.”

“Wait, Guanlin doesn’t know what we’re talking about,” Daehwi started, “so there’s this guy named Euiwoong and-”

Guanlin held his hand up to interrupt. “Let me take a guess, Haknyeon is head over heels for this guy, Monkey, I mean Euiwoong, and always manages to act like an idiot in front of him. He saw him walking to our table to talk to us and that’s why he started choking. Euiwoong is part of the student council and and is always telling Haknyeon to come to their events as an excuse to talk to him, but Haknyeon is about as cognizant of this as a goldfish is of its last meal. And none of you guys do anything about it because it’s funny to watch Haknyeon crash and burn every time he gets within a mile radius of Monkey,” Guanlin paused for dramatic effect, “ _ and  _ because it’s not that simple. The guy Euiwoong was with is his best friend who always sticks around him, and Haknyeon is afraid to approach Euiwoong because the best friend is always with him and he's afraid they have something going on.” Guanlin finished. “Did I miss anything?”

The whole table (including Haknyeon) was gaping. “You could figure  _ that  _ out but you can't write an essay?” Jinyoung said.

“I'm bad at formal Korean, okay!” Guanlin defended himself.

“Okay, Haknyeon is obvious about being in love with Euiwoong, and some of the other stuff too, but how did you guess the part about Ahn Hyungseob, the best friend?” Seonho said to Guanlin, eyes bugging out of his glass frames.

“Wait, I was right about that too? I just made it up for fun!” Guanlin said.

Haknyeon groaned within head in his hands. “Yes, you were. I wish you weren't but you were.”

“I wish you could hear him whining about that guy,” Daehwi said. “We have the same shift to clean the showers in our dorm and it’s all he talks about, that and Euiwoong of course. ‘Do you think Euiwoong and Hyungseob have a thing?’ ‘I think Hyungseob hates me.’ ‘What if Hyungseob tells Euiwoong he should hate me too?’” Daehwi imitated in a high pitched voice, which was ironic considering Daehwi naturally had a higher voice than Haknyeon.

Guanlin chuckled. “Wow.” Haknyeon’s situation was sounding pretty pathetic.

“Shut up Guanlin, before long you’ll fall for someone and when that happens, I’ll have no mercy in making you my victim.” Haknyeon said from the pool of misery he was wallowing in.

Daehwi elbowed Haknyeon in the side with a snicker. “And that might be sooner rather than later,” he said somewhat conspiratorially. Jinyoung, Jihoon, and Samuel nodded along, for reasons unknown to Guanlin. Guanlin had half the mind to ask what they meant but decided it would probably only get him into bigger trouble and/or ridicule down the line, so he kept silent.

“He has bigger fish to fry,” Seonho replied, holding up the essay with his grubby hands. Guanlin winced at the food stains which could now be seen on the paper. “Guanlin, let’s call the tutor after basketball practice. Better to get started as soon as possible.”

“Let’s?” Jinyoung said. “I didn’t know you were writing this essay too.”

Seonho crossed his arms. “I'm allowed to be invested in the academic success of my friend, aren't I?”

“Hey, you got something there,” Guanlin pointed to the arms of Seonho’s uniform, where his dirty hands had rubbed food onto them.

Seonho looked down with wide eyes. “Shoot!”

 

\---

 

“Shoot!” Guanlin followed his captain’s orders, receiving the pass from him and releasing the ball right before the defender stepped in to block it. It rattled a couple times before dropping into the net and Hyunbin clapped his hands together.

“Alright, that's the end of our scrimmage today. Good work everyone, see you tomorrow.”

As Gualin walked off the court, Hyunbin jogged to catch him, slinging an arm over his shoulder. “We need to work on your on-court decision making, huh?”

“What do you mean, hyung?”

“All your skills are great, you’re just slow at deciding what to do when you get the ball.”

Guanlin could definitely admit to that. “Yeah, I’m just trying to consider every possibility before I commit to an action.”

Hyunbin laughed. “Of course you would be one of those guys who think  _ too _ much. Try following your first instinct the next time you play okay? Maybe that will help.”

Guanlin nodded, mulling the advice over. He had about half a second to do the mulling before he was tackled from the other side by Seonho. Without meaning to, he broke into a smile (almost like it was his first instinct or something).

“Guanlin, are you ready to call the tutor?”

“Tutor?” Hyunbin asked.

Guanlin nodded. “I bombed my essay and Ms. Kahi recommended this tutor to me to help with my Korean.”

“Wait, what’s his name?”

“Kim Jonghyun...? Why?” Guanlin replied.

Hyunbins face lit up. “Jonghyun hyung!” he exclaimed, “he tutored me for the longest time. Without him, I probably would have failed junior year, no joke. My teachers were ready to kill me before Jonghyun started helping me.”

“Wow, what is he like?” Seonho said.

“He’s insanely kind and patient. I think I was the worst student he ever had, but he stuck with me and even cleared his schedule on some days so we could get in extra tutoring sessions. Trust me, you’re in good hands. Call him now and tell him Hyunbin says hi!”

Seonho shoved his phone into Guanlin’s hands. “Here!”

“Seonho, shouldn’t I call him with my phone so he doesn’t think your number is mine?”

“Oh, you’re right.”

Once Guanlin got to his bag and got his phone, he punched in Jonghyun’s number. He admitted he was nervous about contacting him when Ms. Kahi first gave him the number, but Hyunbin’s testimony had put him at ease. The phone picked up after two rings.

“Hello?” The voice on the other line sounded friendly enough.

“Um, hello, my name is Lai Guanlin, I’m one of Ms. Kahi’s students.”

“Oh, she texted me about a new student earlier today. It must be you. She said you were from Taiwan?”

“Yeah, I was wondering when we could start our sessions?”

“I’m free tomorrow in the afternoon, does that work for you?”

“Sure, we just need to do it a little later because I have basketball practice. By the way, Hyunbin says hi!”

A laugh came down the line. “That’s fine with me. And tell Hyunbin I say hi as well.”

Guanlin put the phone down and exhaled. “Looks like I start tomorrow.”

 

\---

 

They met the next day at a cafe called The Sleep Talker, which Jonghyun had suggested. It was a weird looking shop downtown owned by an even weirder guy named Aaron, who was apparently one of Jonghyun’s long time friends. Jonghyun was shorter than Guanlin had imagined and had a kind face that immediately put him at ease.

As they entered, Jonghyun pointed to the menu, which was written in chalk above the front counter on a blackboard which was hanging, strangely, from the posts of bed fastened upside down on the ceiling. Guanlin looked up and saw that, indeed, there were other sleep themed items hanging from the ceiling, almost like a bedroom had been flipped upside down.

“You can pick whatever you want,” Jonghyun’s voice snapped Guanlin out of his observation.

“Oh, uhhh,” Guanlin’s mind took a couple seconds to catch up to what was said. The menu offered a selection of Korean-American fusion items, and being familiar with neither of the two cuisines, Guanlin was lost. 

“I can choose something if you’re not sure?” Jonghyun offered.

“Sounds good.”

Ten or fifteen minutes later, they were seated at a table near the window with two big slices of sweet potato bulgogi pizza. “Okay, let’s take a look at your writing.” Jonghyun said.

Guanlin pulled out his essay, marred by Seonho, and handed it to Jonghyun. “Sorry,” Guanlin said, embarrassed, “my friend was reading it while he was eating.”

“It’s okay,” Jonghyun said somewhat distractedly, silent for a time while he was skimming through the essay. Guanlin waited nervously for his verdict. “Well,” Jonghyun said, looking up, “honestly, it’s not as bad as I expected from a foreign student. Let’s get to work on your sentence structure first.”

The afternoon passed quickly, Jonghyun had brought worksheets and books for Guanlin to work on, and before Guanlin knew it, they were wrapping up. Jonghyun had a big smile on his face. “I’m really happy with the progress you made today. You’re such an easy student to work with.” He got up from his chair and gave a pat on the shoulder. “You know what the homework I assigned is, right?” Guanlin nodded. “Now how about another slice of that pizza?” Jonghyun gestured to his plate, which was completely clean, while Jonghyun had only finished about half of his.

“Sure, I’ll pay this time,” Guanlin said, gathering his stuff.

Jonghyun frowned. “No, I’ll get it.”

“What?!” Guanlin said. “No, really, I already owe you enough for tutoring me.”

“So I should make sure my tutee has enough in his stomach to feed his brain, no?” There was a twinkle of laughter in Jonghyun’s eye.

“It’s impossible to argue!” The guy at the counter called out, (Aaron, the cafe owner). Jonghyun gave Guanlin a shrug as if to say ‘he’s right, what can you do,’ and headed to the counter.

“Another slice of bulgogi pizza please,” Jonghyun said, leaning into the counter. “Guanlin, you can come up to the counter, Aaron doesn’t bite.” Aaron gave a friendly wave.

Guanlin obliged, trotting up. “Nice to meet you mister,” he said, sticking his hand out earnestly.

“Geez, just call me Aaron,” the other said, taking Guanlin’s hand with a firm grip. “He’s a good student, huh Jonghyun?”

“He is, how could you tell?” Jonghyun replied.

“He has good manners.” Aaron said. “Aaaand you offered to buy him another slice.”

Jonghyun nodded in agreement. “He’s eager to learn so I feel like hard work should be rewarded.” 

Guanlin smiled nervously and fidgeted a little at the praise. “Thanks Jonghyun, learning from you is very easy so far.”

“Aw, this kid is just plain cute, I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go get your slice.” Aaron disappeared into the backroom.

After a couple beats of silence, Jonghyun said, “do you see that stain on the bed sheet?”  He pointed up at the bed fastened upside down to the ceiling. Guanlin hadn’t noticed it before, (too perplexed by the strange decor of the cafe) but upon looking he saw that there was a brown splatter on the corner of the sheet. “One of my friends was practicing a monologue here and he was gesturing so hard he accidentally threw his coffee cup up and it splashed so high it got on the ceiling.”

Guanlin barked out a surprised laugh. “How is that possible?”

“I’m not sure, but he and Aaron were both screaming like idiots after it happened, and I was trying to calm both of them down. It was my first time introducing the two of them.”

Guanlin winced. “That must have gone over well.”

“Yeah well, after the dust settled they actually ended up becoming really close friends. That was a year ago, and Aaron still hasn’t figured out how to take the sheets off and wash them without taking the whole bed down.” Jonghyun chuckled.

“Hey, are we making fun of me?” Aaron said, walking out with a slice of heavenly smelling pizza on a plate. Guanlin couldn’t help but snicker picturing him trying to get up to clean the stain on the bed. “Hey Guanlin! I know I said you seemed like a good kid, but if you continue to laugh at me I can give this slice to another customer.”

“I’m sorry!” Guanlin said. “Tragic about the stain.”

“Kids these days don’t understand the struggles they’ll encounter in the real world,” Aaron lamented, but he gave Guanlin the slice anyways. “So why are you studying in Korea? Jonghyun said you were Taiwanese, right?” Aaron asked.

“I was wondering that as well,”  Jonghyun said.

“Actually, my family is still back in Taiwan. I’ve always had an interest in Korean culture, and I got the opportunity to spend my high school years studying in Korea, so I took it.” Guanlin explained.

Aaron nodded. “I’m originally from LA, but I took a study abroad opportunity in Korea during my first year of college, and I ended up staying here. I met too many good friends, I guess.”

“Thanks,” Jonghyun said.

“He thinks I’m talking about him,” Aaron pretended to whisper. Guanlin laughed.

“But really, he is talking about me,” Jonghyun said. “What about you Guanlin, made any good friends yet?”

Guanlin felt a smile spread across his face as he replied, “oh yeah, definitely.”

 

\---

 

“So how was the Nation’s Tutor?” Seonho asked from the top bunk. They were both laying the bed, about to go to sleep.

Guanlin stared up at the wire slats supporting the mattress on the top bunk and tried to imagine how Seonho was laying down. Probably starfished as wide as possible, knowing him. “Jonghyun hyung was super nice and helpful. He didn’t even seem like he was judging me for the food stains you got on my essay.” 

“Oh, I approve then,” Seonho said. “How about the teaching?”

“He prepared worksheets and gave me that textbook,” Guanlin pointed to a book on his desk that he knew Seonho would be too lazy to sit up and look at.

Surprisingly Seonho stirred from above and looked. “It sounds like he was really prepared,” he hung his head over the rail of his bunk facing Guanlin.

“Yeah, he was. Nation’s Tutor sounds about right to me. He even bought me pizza!”

Seonho’s eyes widened. “He bought you food?”

“Mhm,” Guanlin replied yawning, “ it was amazing. He said it was a reward for my hard work.”

“Could I perhaps tag along to one of your tutoring sessions these days?”

Guanlin replied sleepily, “mmm, well I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll ask.”

 

\---

 

After a couple sessions, Guanlin was able to arrange a meeting with Jonghyun where Seonho could come. “Jonghyun hyung said his friends were gonna come today too, since I was bringing one of mine,” Guanlin said as he and Seonho walked to The Sleep Talker.

“Cool!” Seonho exclaimed. “I wonder what college friendships are like.”

“Probably not so different from high school,” Guanlin posited.

“Good, I don’t want our friendship to ever change,” Seonho said, slinging an arm over Guanlin’s shoulder with a little skip. Guanlin had to hunch over so Seonho could reach comfortably, but found himself smiling brightly nonetheless. When they reached the cafe and came through the doors, Guanlin spotted Jonghyun surrounded by three other guys who were presumably his friends, and headed towards them. Seonho looked at them and immediately threw his arm off Guanlin in surprise. 

“Minhyun hyung?!” The boy blurted.

“Seonho?” The tallest of Jonghyun’s friends responded with an equally shocked expression.

Seonho left Guanlin’s side and ran to this Minhyun guy, engulfing him in a huge hug. Minhyun stumbled slightly back from the impact, putting his arms around Seonho, squeezing his midsection, and lifting him up for a second.

“Hyung, what are you doing here?” Seonho said.

“Jonghyun told us to come meet his new tutee, what are you doing?”

“Guanlin brought me,” Seonho turned to point at Guanlin. Guanlin had never seen him look happier (well, except when he was looking at food, but that didn’t count).

“Wait, wait, Seonho, how do you know one of Jonghyun’s friends?” Guanlin said. He glanced at Jonghyun who looked back bewildered. Apparently he also hadn’t known about this.

“Minhyun hyung was my babysitter from elementary school. Well mostly my baby brother’s babysitter, but we got to be great friends, right hyuuuuuuung?” Seonho drawled, hanging off the older guy.

Minhyun glanced quickly at Jonghyun before replying, “That’s right.” He reached to give Seonho a pat on the head. “My favorite kid.” Seonho nodded at him solemnly. “Usually we meet up to hang out every so often, but Seonho has been turning me down since school started because he’s too busy with this new friend of his...”

Seonho scratched the back of his head. “That would be Guanlin.” Guanlin waved at Minhyun awkwardly and Minhyun gave him a nod and waved back. There were a couple beats of silence.

“Aaaand, that would be my cue to save yet another social interaction.” One of Jonghyun’s other friends stepped forward. “I’m Minki, and this is Dongho. We make up about one half of Jonghyun’s friends, the other two being Aaron, the cafe owner, and Minhyun, whom you’ve already met.”

“That’s not tru-” Jonghyun started to protest before Minki continued on over him.

“We all go to the nearby college. Guanlin, Seonho, it’s really nice to meet you both.” Minki flashed a billion dollar smile yet still managed to look sincere. “Now lets order some food, I’m starving! 

“And since Jonghyun called us all together, he’s treating!” Dongho added heartily.

“Ah, seriously...” Jonghyun said, but rose, gesturing to Guanlin and Seonho to follow him to order.

“Jonghyun, don’t worry, I’ll treat Seonho and uh, Guanlin,” Minhyun jumped up. Minki rolled his eyes in the background.

“No Minhyun, I’ve got it, really.”

“I insist-”

“No,  _ I _ insist-”

“Well at least let me buy for myself then.”

“...Fine, but I’ll get you something later to make up for it.”

“Make up for what, exactly?” Seonho leaned up to whisper in Guanlin’s ear.

Minki overheard Seonho’s comment and announced in approval, “I like this one already!” But Jonghyun and Minhyun were lost on the reason why. After they had ordered and situated themselves with a table full of food and Aaron had joined them on his break, Guanlin unzipped his backpack, pulled out his books, and asked “Hyung, what are we working on today?”

Jonghyun crinkled his eyebrows in confusion, saying “Guanlin, we’re not working today. We’re just gonna hang out!” The other five people at the table burst into laughter.

“Does he really work you that hard?” Seonho asked, nudging Guanlin. Guanlin went pink.

“Jonghyun, I thought you said you were a  _ nice _ tutor,” Dongho said.

“Yeah, why do you have this poor boy expecting to have to work at a gathering between friends?” Minki said.

“He’s just eager to learn, that’s why he’s my favorite student.” Jonghyun said, grabbing Guanlin’s books and putting them under the table. “Anyways, why don’t you guys fill us in on the state of affairs at the high school, it’s been awhile since we graduated.”

“Did you guys all go to the same high school as us?” Seonho asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yep, except for me,” Aaron said.

“So you all know about Minhyun’s dark past, then?” Seonho suddenly looked mischievous.

“What?! What dark past?” Minhyun spluttered.

Seonho crossed his arms. “Hyung, I have the pictures on my phone.”

“Oh my god, you mean the time he dressed up as a woman?” Minki exclaimed.

“Wait, he cross-dressed? I’m talking about his Transformers phase!” Seonho said.

“WHAT!? How did we not know about this??” Minki pointed an accusing finger at Minhyun. Minhyun looked like a cornered animal. He put his head in his hands and groaned.

“This was supposed to be a  _ friendly _ gathering,” he lamented. Guanlin looked at Seonho and Minki who were now enthusiastically exchanging photos, Jonghyun, Dongho, and Aaron spectating excitedly, and felt like he was out of the loop.

Dongho seemed to notice. “Hey kid,” he started, and Guanlin looked at him. “So how did you meet this goofball anyways?”

Guanlin blinked. “Are you talking about Seonho or Jonghyun?”

Dongho smiled. “The chick.”

“Our homeroom teacher assigned him to show me around when I came in this year. And then he ended up being my roommate too.”

“Wow, sounds a bit like fate to me.”

“Maybe...?” Guanlin replied.

Dongho have him a clap on the back. “Well he’s a good one, don’t let him get away.” Guanlin didn’t understand what Dongho was talking about but nodded anyways. “Hey, tell him to try the pizza,” Dongho prodded. Guanlin looked at Dongho questioningly but the older guy handed him a slice and motioned for him to offer it to Seonho.

“Hey Seonho, ‘aaah’” Guanlin said to his friend, who was leaning across the table, still conversing with Minki. Seonho turned around with an inquisitive expression and immediately brightened when he saw the food. He opened his mouth wide and pointed to it. Guanlin smiled while he folded the pizza in half, like he knew Seonho liked to eat it (more pizza in every bite!) and delivered the goods to Seonho’s mouth.

Seonho chomped down on a huge bite and made a high pitched sound muffled by the food in his mouth when he got a taste. He chewed furiously with shiny eyes and announced when he was able to swallow, “That pizza is a gift from heaven!”

Aaron nodded with satisfaction. “That’s my pizza,” he said.

Seonho leaned into Guanlin’s side in bliss. “This is incredible,” Seonho’s voice was euphoric.

“I told you, Seonho.” Guanlin said.

“No,  _ I _ told you,” Dongho said to the side, flashing a thumbs up. Guanlin returned the hand sign with a confused look. Dongho just cracked a smile and shook his head.

After the pizza had been devoured over conversation, Jonghyun suggested they head to the nearby arcade for some games. Aaron pouted and returned to his station at the counter while the rest departed from the cafe, but not before Seonho asked him what The Sleep Talker’s delivery number was (to which Aaron replied that they didn’t do delivery, but for Seonho he could make an exception).

“Jonghyun loves this place,” Minhyun said as they arrived at the arcade.

“He was even more obsessed back in high school, remember he went almost every day?” Minki said.

“Yeah, I was,” Jonghyun said, clearly reminiscing on the good times. “But then college happened.”

“Hyung, what was your favorite game?” Guanlin asked.

Jonghyun’s smile bordered on a smirk. “You wanna play?”

It turns out Jonghyun’s favorite game was a rhythm game called Heart Beat, which was basically like Guitar Hero, but instead of the buttons being on a guitar, they were in front of the player on the gamepad. Guanlin turned out to be abysmal at it, losing every single time, but even if he was good he still would have lost for certain, because Jonghyun was obviously a practiced expert. The notes were coming down the screen at light speed and he hit every combo perfectly. Guanlin button mashed desperately while Seonho marvelled at Jonghyun’s fast hands. The three older guys watched at the back, as if Jonghyun was just doing business as usual.

“This isn’t amazing to you guys?” Seonho asked.

“You have no idea how many times we’ve stood behind this booth waiting for him to finish,” Dongho said as way of explanation.

“Let’s find a game that levels the playing field, shall we?” Minki said after Jonghyun hit his last perfect note.

They wandered through to the back where they found a four player fighter game. “Jonghyun and Guanlin versus Minhyun and Seonho!” Dongho exclaimed.

“Nooooooo! I already know Minhyun hyung sucks at games!” Seonho complained. Guanlin shoved him to the red team controller anyways, while he and Jonghyun picked up the blue ones. The screen counted down and Guanlin focused himself... only to see his character beaten to a pulp by Seonho’s as soon as the match started.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Guanlin yelped.

“What’s not fair, Guanlinnie, I’m just beating you!” Seonho replied, teasing. Guanlin huffed and tried to recover and get in some hits for himself. He was doing pretty well until Seonho unleashed a ferocious combo by pressing a string of buttons that Guanlin was sure he couldn’t replicate. Guanlin took his hand off his controller and stuck it into Seonho’s side, tickling him.

“GUANLIN!” Seonho shrieked, “STOP!!” He dissolved into laughter, futilely trying to bat Guanlin’s hands away while still playing the game. Guanlin persisted with a huge smile, and Seonho dropped his controller to strike back. Soon they were a chaotic, screaming pile on the floor, trying to get each other’s ticklish spots. Dongho and Minki were laughing to the side, and Minki had his phone out, probably filming.

“Hey, break it up you two!” Minhyun said, trying to pull Seonho off Guanlin good-heartedly.

“Hyung you left your controller!” Seonho said.

“Do I have to remind you that you left your controller too?” Minhyun raised an eyebrow. “And plus, Jonghyun killed me in like 10 seconds, so there was nothing I could really do.”

Speaking of Jonghyun, he put his controller down with a smile as well, as  _ Blue Team Victory _ flashed on the screen. “Good game everyone.” He pretended to dust off his hands.

Dongho snorted. “Of course he ignored everything going on in the real world so he could finish off the game.” Everyone burst into laughter, including Guanlin. He looked around at the college students he had just met, who seemed to adopt Seonho and himself into their group like it was the most natural thing in the world. It was good to be surrounded by new friends in high spirits.

But even better was when, a couple weeks later, Guanlin got his revised essay back from Ms. Kahi,  a shiny ‘A’ circled at the top of his paper.

 

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After Credits Scene

“Guanlin,” Jonghyun said halfway through one of their sessions, “I realize we should work on your speaking skills too.” He held up a pen and put it in between his teeth. “Try talking with a pen in your mouth. It will improve your enunciation.”

Guanlin grabbed his pen and imitated Jonghyun.

“Okay, repeat after me,” Jonghyun began, “Ga na da ra ma ba sa a.”

“Ganarhajsdajqmaabasaa.”

“No, ga na da ra ma ba sa a.”

“Wait, hyung, what does that even mean?”

Jonghyun gave him a look. “You don’t know ganadaramabasaa?”

“No...?”

“Guanlin, it’s the alphabet.”

“...Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this update took so long TT_TT I was busy for a couple weeks and then I was just slow with writing. This chapter is extra long though and introduces some fan favorites so hopefully you enjoyed!!  
> Jonghyun's favorite game is like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofvx_vJiT4Q his proficiency level is also similar to the one shown in this vid!  
> Aaand another pd101 fic is in the works so look out for that one *v*


	4. Beef Noodle Soup for the Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guanlin is feeling down, but Seonho (along with food) is here to bring him back up.

Seonho furrowed his brows. Trigonometry was always hard, but today’s class was unusually difficult. A glance to his side told him that Guanlin was struggling just as much as he was. The Taiwanese boy was staring blankly down at his notes, which he hadn’t written much of. Seonho shrugged, he would just share his notes with Guanlin after class.

The bell rang and Seonho fell into step with Guanlin walking out of the classroom. The other boy hadn’t said a word yet, but Seonho didn’t think much of it, Guanlin was a man (or boy?) of few words. “Guanlin, do you need my notes?”

Guanlin seemed to snap out of daze. “Uh, oh yeah, thanks Seonho.”

“I thought class was hard today too,” Seonho said.

Guanlin sighed. “Yeah,” was all he said. Seonho sensed he just didn’t want to talk, which was fine with him. He just gave Guanlin a squeeze on the shoulder and went silently to their next class.

In History Guanlin was also quiet. Sometimes Seonho would catch him picking his pencil up to write something or raising his hand before aborting the action with a sober frown. In the lunch line, it was more of the same. All of Seonho’s attempts at conversation were answered with lifeless, one word responses. He was beginning to get worried. Maybe Guanlin was getting sick?

“Are you feeling okay?” Seonho asked.

“I’m fine, just a little tired.” Guanlin shook his head.

Well, he certainly looked tired at basketball practice. His reactions were sluggish, none of his shots were going in, and he spent more time looking at the ground than at the ball. Hyunbin pulled Seonho aside while Guanlin was still doing drills and asked, “What’s going on with him?”

“I don’t know, he was like that in class too.” Seonho replied. He was starting to get a little worried. “I’ll talk to him after practice.”

“Thanks.”

 

“Guanlin, are you alright?” Seonho asked, handing the boy in question in his water bottle. The question was almost redundant because Guanlin visibly looked pretty awful. He was sweating from practice, jaw clenched tight, folded over pathetically. Guanlin looked up with a failed attempt at a neutral expression. Seonho frowned. “What’s going on? You’ve been down all day. And don’t say you’re just tired.”

Guanlin was silent and downcast for some time before replying “I... don’t make fun of me, okay?”

Seonho shook his head. “I would never do that, Guanlin.”

“Lately I’ve...” Guanlin paused and his eyes darted to Seonho before going back to the ground.  “I’ve been feeling homesick.” Guanlin finally finished.

“That’s it?” Seonho said. Waves of relief came over him. “Or I mean, not ‘that’s it’,” he backtracked, “being homesick sucks, but I’m glad it’s not something more serious.”

Guanlin nodded. “I don’t know why, I didn’t feel homesick for the first few weeks here in Korea, but it’s suddenly hitting me.”

“Maybe we could do something this weekend that reminds you of home? Like cooking your favorite dish?” Seonho suggested.

“That... sounds amazing.” Guanlin breathed out, grinning just a little for the first time that day.

“So what are we making?” Seonho leaned forward, happy to be rewarded with having Guanlin’s smile back.

“My mom always made beef noodle soup for me when I was feeling down.” Guanlin said.

“Beef noodle soup it is!” Seonho exclaimed.

 

\---

 

Seonho opened his eyes and realized it was Saturday, which meant one thing: they were cooking today. He had been looking forward to it all week. He leapt out of bed with fervor, practically sliding down the ladder, and hopped onto the mound of blankets in the bed below him. A groan issued from underneath and Seonho giggled. “Wakey wakey, Guanlinnie!”

“Geh rohff me Seontoh,” Guanlin rumbled, muffled by blankets.

Seonho responded by going limp on top of him. He pretended to snore.

“Ugh.” Guanlin said somewhere underneath the blankets. He didn’t move for some time and Seonho realized he had probably gone back to sleep. In fact, Seonho could use a couple more winks of sleep himself...

 

“...okay, really, get off me Seonho.” Seonho woke for the second time that day. He didn’t realize he had fallen asleep on top of Guanlin.

“Oops, sorry,” Seonho rolled off the other boy. He realized the clock read several hours later than they had intended to get up. Not that it mattered anyway, it was the weekend.

“Are you ready to go shopping?” Guanlin asked, head finally popping out from under the covers.

“Huh?”

“We have to buy ingredients in order to cook, you know.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

They headed to the nearest grocery store armed with a shopping list and an appetite. “Alright, the first ingredient we need is soy sauce,” Seonho read. The two looked up at the aisles of food stretched for what seemed like miles in either direction. Seonho realized they would have their work cut out for them finding everything on the list. (Which he didn’t exactly mind, he loved staring at food.)

“Guanlin, what is it like at home?” Seonho asked as they pushed their cart through the aisles.

“Much hotter than it is here.” Guanlin chuckled.

“Ha, I meant your family,” Seonho said playfully.

“My family...” Guanlin thought for a moment, “it's much quieter at home than it is here. My older sister is at college now, and my dad usually works all day, so it's really me and my mom at home. I like it though, she knows when to talk to me and when to give me my space.”

“That's nice, my little brother is a real nuisance most of the time. But I still love him,”said Seonho.

“Isn't that how it is most of the time? The ones who bother you all the time end up being the ones you love the most.” Guanlin mused.

“I thought that was only true with elementary school pigtail pulling.”

“Maybe you're right- hey, there's the soy sauce.” Guanlin pointed to the bottle on the shelf. It was all the way at the top, and Seonho walked over and stood on his tip toes, but the bottle was still barely out of reach. He hopped a bit, but still no success. Then he heard a laugh behind him and a hand reached from behind his head and grabbed the soy sauce. He felt something brush against his back and realized it was Guanlin’s chest. Seonho turned around to protest that he had almost got it and nearly bumped heads with Guanlin, who was still reaching around him, trapping him against the shelves. “Careful,” Guanlin put the soy sauce in the shopping cart. “Maybe you'll be taller when you mature into a fully grown chicken.” Guanlin teased.

“Hey!” Seonho objected, feeling his face flush a bit. “I'm not that much shorter than you! I'm tall compared to everyone else!”

Guanlin just smiled at him, lifting one brow like he was both questioning Seonho and humoring him. Seonho huffed and looked at the ingredients list. “Next is wide cut noodles.”

 

\---

 

They returned to the dorms having miraculously found all of the ingredients for beef noodle soup, along with several bags of snacks Seonho insisted Guanlin try. They were gonna do the cooking in the common room, where there was a stove and oven that probably hadn’t been used for anything more than instant noodles in years. Seonho dropped his bag of groceries on the countertop and rummaged around for a pack of chips.

“So do we have a recipe?” He asked Guanlin, crunching on a huge handful of chips. Gosh, he loved this flavor.

“Got it right here,” Guanlin smiled, holding up his phone. “First we need to cook the beef.” He pulled the chunk of beef they bought and started opening the plastic wrap with his fingernail. 

Guanlin started to reach into the package when Seonho yelped “Wait! Wash your hands first!”

“Oh right,” Guanlin said sheepishly. They reached for the sink at the same time, knocking shoulders. Seonho turned the faucet on and realized too late the mischievous look forming on Guanlin’s face, right as Guanlin splashed the water from the faucet all over Seonho’s shirt.

“Hey!” Seonho exclaimed, striking back. Guanlin laughed and kept flicking water onto Seonho. Seonho suddenly felt a wave of fondness seeing the Taiwanese boy in high spirits again. He reached out and smeared soap all over Guanlin’s face, cackling as Guanlin exclaimed, “you got it in my eyes!”

“You started it,” Seonho said, but took a wet kitchen towel and started dabbing at Guanlin’s face anyways. Guanlin had such nice skin.

“Sorry to interrupt the moment, but I have to microwave this.” A voice came from behind them. It was Jinyoung, with a straight face on. The two moved out of the way, and as Jinyoung put his instant noodles into the microwave, he asked “What are you guys doing in the kitchen?”

“We’re making beef noodle soup!” Seonho exclaimed.

Jinyoung made a weird face, like he was confused but trying not to show it. “Should I call the others to spectate?”

Guanlin gagged. “No, we’ll have enough trouble making the dish ourselves without all of you distracting us.”

“So yes,” Jinyoung said.

Seonho opened his mouth to object before sighing. “It can’t be helped.” Seonho and Guanlin started working on the dish as their friends filed into the common room. They chopped up the beef into cubes with clean hands and put them into the pot, with oil, to cook according to the recipe.

“So far so good, right?” Seonho said to Guanlin as he stirred the meat around, impatient to see it brown.

Guanlin nodded. “We should cut up the other ingredients while we're waiting.”

“What's this here?” Daehwi’s voice came from behind them. The rest of the boys were looking as well.

“A culinary masterpiece, that's what it is,” Guanlin turned around, leaning against the counter somewhat haughtily. Seonho giggled. “And there's none for you!” Seonho added, gesturing with the stirring spoon.

“Fine by me,” Daehwi replied.

“If you guys are actually gonna eat what you make you're way braver than me,” Samuel interjected. “And I'm pretty brave.”

“What he said,” Daehwi agreed.

“OK, we don't need affirmation to succeed. You're all here to see us screw up anyways.” Seonho pointed out.

“...That's true.”

 

So the afternoon passed like that, with Seonho and Guanlin working hard on the dish and the rest of their friends messing around in the common room to keep themselves entertained. 

Pretty soon the rich aroma of stewing soup was wafting through the air, making even their rowdy friends pause to take an appreciative sniff. Seonho watched Guanlin close his eyes and take a deep breath in. A blissful smile spread across the other boy’s face. “It smells just like home.”

“I’m glad,” Seonho said after a couple beats admiring the return of Guanlin’s smile. “Let’s try it!” Seonho grabbed the stirring spoon with enthusiasm and took a sip from it. “Bleh, it tastes like nothing!” He exclaimed, shocked.

Guanlin rolled his eyes. “Duh, we have to wait and let the soup absorb the flavors of the ingredients.”

“Oh...” Seonho trailed off and put the spoon back into the pot. “So what do we do now?” Honestly his mouth was watering at the smell, and if he didn’t get something in his stomach right this minute he might die- “I know! Let’s eat the snacks!”

“Are you crazy Seonho?! We want room to actually be able to eat the soup we’re making. And didn’t you just eat a bag of chips when we got back from shopping?”

“Aw Guanlin, that was an hour ago! I’m starving! We have  _ really _ got to work on your stomach capacity.”

“My metabolism isn’t a jet engine like yours, Seonho, I have to keep up my figure.” Guanlin struck a pose.

Seonho snorted, which turned into laughter. He was glad to see Guanlin had totally loosened up. “But really, what are we gonna do?  We have hours to kill.” he asked.

“We exist you know!” Haknyeon called from the couch.

“We’ve been trying to ignore that fact,” Guanlin called back. Seonho offered him a hi-five, which Guanlin accepted.

“That was a weak drag,” Jihoon said. “But come over here anyways, we’re playing cards.” Seonho and Guanlin shared a smile before conceding and joining the game. After too many rounds of trying and failing to catch Daehwi in the act of cheating when everyone knew he definitely was, it was nearing the evening and time to check on the soup. Seonho took the lid off the pot zealously and a huge puff of steam billowed out.

“Ahhh, like a sauna, but way more delicious!” Seonho sighed. “Would you like to do the honors?” He gestured to Guanlin to test the soup.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Guanlin replied, taking the spoon. He took a sip and smiled. “It’s perfect.” Ignoring the “Oooh he said it was perfect!” and “I wonder what else he thinks is perfect,” coming the from the peanut gallery on the couch, which Seonho didn’t understand at all and would never make an attempt to understand, Seonho got out a large bowl to serve the soup. Guanlin started to put soup into the bowl, but Seonho batted his hand away.

“Just go to the couch and sit tight, I’ll serve you.” Seonho told him.

“Aw, thanks Seonho, I’ve never seen you actually give food  _ away _ to someone else.” Guanlin said, cracking a smile.

“Shut up Mister Homesick, we made the soup for you, it’s the least I can do.” Seonho pushed the taller boy to the couch and turned his back to labor over the presentation of the soup. He usually didn’t care about how food looked before he ate it, after all it was the taste (and volume) that mattered, but he did want to elevate the meal a bit for Guanlin, who was eating Taiwanese food again for the first time since he had come to Korea. He sprinkled a finishing garnish of scallions over the dish, frowning when some of the slices fell out of line.

“The dish doesn’t need to have five star visuals for me to eat it.” Guanlin said from the couch.

“The dish should match the person eating it,” Seonho called back absentmindedly, more focused on fixing the scallions.

“Seonho, are you saying Guanlin has five star visuals?” Daehwi interjected.

“Hey, I was about to say that,” Haknyeon pouted.

“Me too,” Jihoon said, “you snooze you lose I guess.”

Seonho mulled over the question for about one second before answering, “of course, we’re talking about Guanlin here.” It was easy to admit Guanlin was very handsome. In fact, Seonho would even go as far as to accuse you of being blind (or jealous) if you disagreed.

“Oh that’s right, we’re talking about  _ Guanlin _ here,” Haknyeon repeated with a teasing smile “why did we even bother asking you, of all people?”

“...Shut up guys,” Guanlin said, looking a little rosy.

“All we’re saying is that our Guanlinnie is a stunner,” Daehwi said, squishing Guanlin’s cheeks.  Guanlin sat and took the punishment with a straight face.

“Okay, Daehwi, get out of the way, I’m serving the guest of honor,” Seonho announced, turning around with the bowl of soup in his hands and a flourish. “Oh shit!” He yelped when some broth splashed out of the bowl.

Guanlin snorted. “Just give me my food,” he said, gesturing with his hand.

Seonho strode to the couch and set the bowl down on the coffee table. “And for our very special guest, all the way from Taiwan, we have the tastiest beef noodle soup,” he said in an exaggeratedly formal accent. Directly afterwards, he leaped onto the couch next to Guanlin and chirped, “let’s eat!”

Guanlin obliged, swirling a mouthful of noodles and beef in his chopsticks and taking a bite. His eyes squeezed shut and he smiled, cheeks puffed out from the food, nodding his head in appreciation. Gosh, it was so cute, Seonho caught himself thinking. “Just like home!” Guanlin declared.

“Let me try!” Seonho said, diving into the bowl.

“Get your own bowl!” Guanlin said too late, Seonho was already slurping away.

Seonho looked at Guanlin with noodles hanging out of his mouth. After sucking them up (and successfully avoiding whiplash, Seonho gave himself a pat on the back,) he pouted. “Can’t we share?”

Guanlin gave him a look before caving. “Fine, but go fill the bowl again, I’m pretty sure you just vacuumed up all the noodles.”

“But you’re feeling better now, right?” Seonho looked Guanlin over as he got up to refill. It was kind of a rhetorical question, considering how happy Guanlin looked, but Seonho wanted to hear the answer.

“Yeah stupid, I am,” Guanlin said, but he was smiling. “Thanks for doing this with me,” he said sincerely, “I really don't feel homesick anymore.”

Seonho couldn’t stop the smile on his face as he replied, “anything for our Guanlinnie.”

“Awwwww,” Jihoon cooed, breaking the moment. He then elbowed Jinyoung, who coughed and opened his mouth to utter a monotone “aw” as well.

Seonho snorted as he went to get more noodles. Jihoon and Jinyoung were so obvious about their crushes on each other. He wondered when they would ever realize that, instead of Jihoon pulling on Jinyoung’s pigtails and Jinyoung looking way too happy when he did that. But of course the two of them had their heads in the sand. While he was at the stove, Seonho saw Haknyeon try and fail to execute a b-boying move on the couch cushions and watched Guanlin light up, laughing and clapping his hands like he always did when he found something amusing. Seonho wouldn’t be disappointed if all his Saturday nights were like this, spent with food and friends, one Taiwanese best friend in particular. He found himself yawning and shook his head to snap out of it. Not only was the night ideal, it was also young, he thought to himself, going to rejoin Guanlin on the couch.

 

\---

 

“So... what are we gonna do with them?”

“I don’t know Samuel, you tell me.”

“Well I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas at the moment-”

“Shh! Not so loud, you’ll wake them.”

“Jihoon is right, this is as cute and domestic as you can get.”

“Wow Jinyoung, never thought I’d hear the words ‘cute’ and ‘domestic’ come from you.”

“Whatever, if we’re not gonna wake them and drag them to their dorm, I’m taking pictures for blackmail.”

“For once Haknyeon is using his head. Let me get in on this photoshoot too.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t solve the problem of what we should do.”

“Can’t we just leave them on the couch? They’ll wake up in the morning.”

“...Daehwi that’s a surprisingly good idea coming from you.”

“Thank you Jihoon. And I sure as hell am not about to wash the dirty bowl in front of them. They can do that in the morning too!”

So the five boys finished snapping pictures and shuffled off to their own dorms, leaving the sleeping pair of Seonho and Guanlin snoring on the couch, leaning into each other with their heads tucked perfectly together.

 

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.

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After credits scene

A couple weeks later, Seonho and Guanlin received a knock on their dorm door. Seonho opened it to find a delivery man with a very long, narrow package.

“Delivery for Yoo Seonho and Lai Guanlin,” the delivery man said.

“Um, I don’t remember getting anything delivered... Guanlin, do you?”

“No...?” Guanlin looked just as confused as Seonho felt.

“Well I’ll leave this here, I have other deliveries to see to today.” The delivery man was gone as quickly as he appeared.

Seonho and Guanlin brought the package inside and opened it. Inside was a poster tube. They unrolled the poster. Seonho snorted and Guanlin dead-panned. It was a photo of them knocked out on the couch together, unfinished bowl of noodles in the foreground. The picture had obviously been blinged out by a photo editing program, complete with sparkles, rainbows and other stickers of the sort. Attached was a note that read ‘XOXO GuanlinxSeonho forever <3’.

“Who do we have to blame for this?” Guanlin said with a long-suffering sigh.

“Honestly? Probably all of them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew I took my time with this update.. but HOPEFULLY the next updates will be coming in quick succession. i hope the boys are still finding time to sleep and rest with their busy schedules, but i'm glad they're so busy!  
> beef noodle soup is a common comfort food dish in taiwan, so i thought it would be a good dish to cook to remind guanlin of home. i recommend it to everyone reading!
> 
> as always, comments are greatly appreciated :) see you all at the next update!


	5. We're the Perfect Match...makers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guanlin and Seonho scheme to get two hopeless hyungs together.

Guanlin was hunched over at his desk, doing homework. Seonho was slung over the bunk bed, hanging upside down in a position that couldn’t be comfortable. He was humming something unintelligible. Guanlin had half the mind to ask him if he had work to do before remembering that Seonho was the type who finished his homework during the period it was assigned. It was crazy how someone so feather brained could be so booksmart. Guanlin worried not for the first time if Seonho’s ditzy facade was just that, and the other boy was really cognizant of much more than he let on.

Suddenly there was a crashing noise followed by pained squawking and Guanlin whipped his head around to catch Seonho crumpled on the floor of their room, trying to recover from the fall he presumably took.  _ Or maybe not _ , Guanlin thought as he got up to check on his roommate.

“You doing okay? Anything broken?” Guanlin bent over Seonho’s groaning body and squeezed down the lengths of his arms, as if that would help him check for injuries at all. “How did that even happen?”

“I was hanging off the bed doing some thinking.”

“Your first time then?” Guanlin couldn’t help but poke fun.

“I fell off the top bunk and you have the gall to make fun of me- OW!” Seonho yelped when Guanlin’s hand got to his elbow. “It hurts there...” Seonho pouted.

Guanlin frowned and checked the area. “Does it hurt to bend?” Seonho flexed his arm a couple times and shook his head no. “It looks like it’s just bruised then, it will heal soon enough... you can stop it with that face now, you’re gonna get wrinkles.” Guanlin reached out to smooth the other boy’s crinkled brow with two fingers.

“But will my ego ever heal?” Seonho replied, although he obediently relaxed his forehead.

“Trust me, I’ve seen you do much more embarrassing things, not even by accident but on purpose.” Guanlin grinned and leaned back on the bottom bunk, letting his elbows rest on it.

“Just promise the other guys will never hear of this incident, alright?” Seonho batted his eyelashes from where he was  _ still _ laying.

“They’ve seen it too, they’ve known you longer than me.” At this point Guanlin was arguing just for the sake of it. He wondered when he had become that kind of person, usually he was happy to let threads of conversation drop. He realized he really only did this with Seonho, and then he was wondering when Seonho had become worth the exertion of words.

“...in the first place?” Seonho’s voice broke Guanlin from his train of thoughts.

“Sorry, what?”

“Don’t you want to know what I was thinking about in the first place?”

“It seems like you want me to know, so sure.”

Seonho flopped himself against the bed as well and started talking. “So I was thinking about Minhyunnie hyung and Jonghyun hyung.” 

He paused like Guanlin was supposed to get what he was saying. Instead Guanlin just said “And?”

“And don’t you think they have something going on?!” Seonho exclaimed.

Guanlin’s interest was piqued. “What makes you think that?”

“Come on, didn’t you see how they were tripping over themselves to pay for each other at the cafe?”

Guanlin tried to remember. “I did, but I thought Minhyun was just being a good hyung offering to pay for us and himself.” They had hung out with the college students a couple more times after that, and he hadn’t noticed anything in those instances either.

Seonho rolled his eyes and slid dramatically down the side of the bed. His shirt caught between the blankets and his back and inched up so his belly button was exposed on the other side. “You’re really oblivious, you know that?”

“Okay, I get it now, Minhyun wanted to pay because he likes Jonghyun, right?” Guanlin crossed his arms and eyed the belly button. “But what if he was just being friendly after all? One example does not a full thesis make.”

“Geez, you’ve gone to one too many sessions of tutoring with Jonghyun.” Seonho replied. “If you need any more proof, I dare you to mention Minhyun hyung to Jonghyun during tutoring and see how he reacts.”

“I still have questions about this...”

 

\---

 

“...and we should change this sentence from passive to active voice. Do you have any questions?” Jonghyun said from behind Guanlin’s draft.

_ Here goes nothing _ , Guanlin thought. “Um, actually Jonghyun hyung, do you know when Minhyun hyung would have free time soon?”

Jonghyun looked surprised at the mention of Minhyun, peeking up from the packet sharply. “Minhyun? Well, he has class from nine to three on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and he has evening lectures on Tuesday and Friday, but I, um, I’m not sure, I’m not his keeper, haha.” The tutor laughed nervously. He blinked. “Why do you ask?”

“Seonho has been meaning to hang out with him again, and he wanted me to ask you,” Guanlin recited his premeditated excuse, feeling strangely at the fact that he was, for the first time, the one who seemed to know more in a conversation with Jonghyun.

“O-oh, I see.” Jonghyun smiled. “Minhyun and Seonho seem to have a cute relationship.”

Guanlin nodded. “Minhyun seems like a really caring guy.”

“Um... he is,” Jonghyun affirmed. His smile stayed for the entire lesson.

(Damn it, Seonho might have been right about this one.)

 

“You should have seen him, Jonghyun hyung was smiling like a total sap.” Guanlin recounted to Seonho’s eager audience. Seonho put another handful of snacks into his mouth like he was watching a movie, which made Guanlin feel all the more like his story was the most riveting narrative in the world.

“I told you! Look me in the eye and tell me they don’t have something going on.” Some crumbs flew out of Seonho’s mouth.

“I’d rather look for a napkin.”

Seonho gave Guanlin a look. Guanlin gave a gummy smile and shrugged. Eventually Seonho continued: “We should get them together.”

Guanlin raised his brows. He hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. “Should we really be meddling in their business?”

“What?! It’s not meddling!” Seonho looked affronted. “Think of it as doing them a favor!”

“ _ I _ wouldn’t see it as a favor,” Guanlin grumbled.

Seonho was looking at him with accusatory eyes.

“Alright, fine, either you have a point or I’ve decided to humor you.” Guanlin felt that it was overwhelmingly the second option. “How?”

Seonho rubbed his hands together with a giddy, devilish look. “Look at our report cards, they’re all straight A’s. Between the two of us, our brains should be able to come up with  _ something _ , shouldn’t they?”

 

\---

 

And come up with something they did. Guanlin and Seonho made their way to The Sleeptalker at eleven in the morning that Saturday, the first phase of their plan already laid. Guanlin had asked for an extra tutoring session from Jonghyun, to meet at noon. Likewise, Seonho had arranged to meet with Minhyun at the same place, same time, ‘to catch up with his favorite hyung’. They were arriving an hour early to set up surveillance (and grab lunch, they needed fuel for their glorious matchmaking mission after all).

“I can’t  _ wait _ to see their faces,” Seonho practically bounced along the sidewalk. He had that crazy looking smile on his face again, and Guanlin wondered offhandedly if he could ever pin down the recipe for how to make it appear.

“I can’t wait to hear Jonghyun hyung trip over his words again,” Guanlin snickered.

“I’m SO jealous you got to put him on the hot seat like that.” Seonho ran to pull the door to the cafe open with gusto.

“Chicks!” Aron’s voice greeted the two of them as they entered. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” The two boys in question sauntered to the counter, all conspiratory smiles.

“Just pretend we were never here.” Guanlin said.

“Jonghyun and Minhyun hyung are going on a date today, but they don’t know that yet.” Seonho added. 

Aron seemed to put two and two together and disappeared into the kitchen. He returned quickly with two slices of pizza. “Say no more fam.” Guanlin and Seonho received the gifts with open arms and salivating mouths. “If those two finally get together today, that’s on the house.” Aron promised with a grin.

Guanlin couldn’t help but give a whoop, which was mirrored, much more loudly, by Seonho. “You can count on us,” he assured Aron. “We have to go set something up, could you just keep that table clear for us?” Guanlin pointed to the one he and Jonghyun usually sat at for tutoring. 

Aron nodded and made a gesture like he was crossing his heart. “Over my dead body,” he said solemnly.

Guanlin and Seonho headed to the table, where Seonho pulled out his phone and a roll of duct tape. “Guanlin, I’ve gotta say,” Seonho addressed him with a grin, “this is one of your best ideas ever.” Guanlin inflated with pride as he dialed Seonho’s number and called it using his own phone. Seonho answered the call before ducking under the table and fastening his phone securely to the underside.

“Okay, let’s try it.” Seonho said, popping back up. His hair was a little out of sorts, which was adorable.

“Sure.” Guanlin moved to the other side of the shop, muted his receiver, and turned on speakerphone.

Seonho sat down at the table and brought a fist to his mouth. Guanlin was confused for a moment before a crackling noise came through his own phone. “This is Private Yoo speaking, do you copy?” Seonho was using his fist to muffle his voice, making it sound like it was coming from a walkie talkie.

“Copy,” Guanlin said before realizing Seonho couldn’t hear him from across the room. He was sucking air in for a big shout, but then decided Aron wouldn’t be happy if he caused a disturbance. He settled for shooting Seonho a big thumbs up.

Seonho wiggled his eyebrows and spoke into his hand again. The visual of Seonho’s mouth moving from far away and the audio of his voice coming from the phone in Guanlin’s hand was quite odd. “Copy that, Private Lai, we are in business.” Guanlin was surprised at the giggle that escaped him. Despite his reservations, it was good and proper fun being up to no good.

 

 

The only task that remained was to find a spot out of eyesight where they could watch the action go down. They settled in the bushes in the park across the street from the cafe. It was incredibly cliche, but also the only place where they could spy on their table through the window while staying hidden themselves.

“Scootch to the left, Seonho, I can’t see.” Guanlin hissed.

“This is the furthest I can go without falling onto the sidewalk,” Seonho replied in a fierce whisper.

“Look at all that space you have!”

“What space?! These two inches?”

“Every inch counts!”

“Now there’s a stick poking me in the butt!”

(Guanlin himself had multiple branches protruding dangerously close to his crotch, but he was too embarrassed to mention that.) “Nothing compared to the stick up Minhyun and Jonghyun hyung’s asses!”

“What are you- Guanlin, did you just make a gay buttsex joke?” Seonho giggled.

Guanlin sputtered. “Not exactly, but I guess if you put it that way...”

“Nice one.” Seonho offered a high-five, which was really a knee-height five because they were folded into the smallest squats possible to fit amongst the bushes. Guanlin batted at his hand in the way that expended the least energy possible. “That still doesn’t change the fact that there’s a literal stick up my butt at this very moment though.”

“Well maybe if you scootched to the left like I told you-”

The two boys fell silent as a passing couple eyed them through the leaves judgmentally. Seonho sighed and fell back onto his butt. Sure enough there was the sound of a stick cracking. “There’s no way we can be completely hidden, Guanlinnie.”

Guanlin reached over to pat his friend on the shoulder, somewhat awkwardly given his restricted position. “It’s okay, the hyungs probably won’t be looking in our direction anyways. As long as we have some sort of cover we should be fine.”

“You’re right. I just wish it was a bit more comfortable here.” Seonho puffed upwards, blowing a strand of hair off his forehead.

Guanlin tried to adjust the branches in front of his crotch in the most inconspicuous manner possible. “Tell me about it.”

 

“This is Private Yoo, the first target is approaching at 11:50 o’clock.” Sure enough, Jonghyun was entering The Sleeptalker, early as usual. Seonho gave Guanlin a nudge a looked at him expectantly.

Guanlin pointed to himself in question. The other boy nodded and Guanlin sighed. Yes, he would play along. “Private Lai here, copy that. Target 1 is heading towards the rendezvous location, he’s sitting down now.” A scuffling sound came through the speaker of Guanlin’s phone as Jonghyun pulled the chair out. “Looks like our bug is in working order. Over.”

“Copy that. He’s reaching into his bag... he’s pulling out books and pencils. T minus 2 minutes and 38 seconds until you send him the false intelligence, Private Lai. Over.”

“Wait, what? What false intelligence?” Guanlin broke from character.

“I meant texting him to say you’re gonna be late.” Seonho explained.

“Oh.” They sat quietly for a couple beats. “Why don’t I just text him now?”

Seonho checked his watch, which read 11:53. He shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Guanlin pulled out his phone to compose the message and pressed sent. Both of their gazes shifted with laser beam-like focus to Jonghyun across the street.

“Is he checking his phone?” Guanlin whispered.

“I can’t tell.”

“I think he’s reading over one of my textbooks.”

“Oh, he’s reaching for his phone!”

Indeed, Jonghyun was on his phone. He was too far away for the boys to catch any minute changes in his expression, but the tutor seemed unperturbed as he typed a reply. Seconds later Guanlin’s phone got a text notification.

“‘That’s okay, there’s no need to hurry. Take your time and arrive here safely.’” Guanlin read the message aloud.

“He’s so considerate!” Seonho cooed from over Guanlin’s shoulder. “Minhyun needs someone like that looking after him.” The boy broke into a far off smile and Guanlin was reminded that they were actually doing the pair a favor here by getting them together. Like Seonho said, they’d definitely be good for each other.

Suddenly Guanlin’s phone went off again. He checked the screen. “He says he’s gonna order for me. What should I do?”

“Oooh, tell him to order Minhyun’s favorite, the ribs.”

“Seonho, you’re a genius, have I ever told you that?” Guanlin grinned, typing the request to Jonghyun.

“No, you actually haven’t.” Seonho seemed peachy. “But thanks. High praise coming from you.”

A couple minutes after noon, they spotted Minhyun coming down the street. “Oh my god, he’s walking on our side of the street,” Seonho said through his teeth.

“Just stay quiet, he won’t notice us if he doesn’t hear anything.” Guanlin said in a low voice, deciding to clamp a hand over Seonho’s mouth just in case. Moments later, Minhyun approached their bush. He stopped a couple meters away at the intersection, waiting for the signal to the cross the street. Guanlin glanced at Seonho, who was staring intensely at Minhyun with wide eyes and breathing heavily through his nose. Glaring, Guanlin raised a finger to his lips, willing Seonho to stop making so much noise. Minhyun glanced in their direction. Both boys held their breath... and then the street light clicked, signaling that Minhyun could cross. Seeming unaffected, he continued across the street and into The Sleeptalker.

Guanlin and Seonho let out their breaths, sagging into each other in relief. “I was scared out of my mind there,” Seonho whined.

“If you hadn’t been breathing out of your nose like a horse, he probably wouldn’t have looked over here in the first place!”

“Your hand was making me nervous!” Seonho crossed his arms.

“Sorry about that.” Guanlin wilted.

“It’s okay, I get it. You were just as worried about being seen as me- look! Minhyun hyung is going over to Jonghyun hyung!” Seonho pointed.

Indeed, Minhyun had noticed Jonghyun, (he hadn’t even gone to the counter to greet Aaron), and looked to be saying something. Slowly, his speaking voice came through Guanlin’s phone louder and louder until they could hear exactly what he was saying.

“...what are you doing here?” Minyun was asking. Guanlin couldn’t help a giddy smile at how well their improvised spy device was working.

“I’m meeting Guanlin for an extra tutoring session,” Jonghyun responded.

“Oh, what a coincidence, I’m meeting Seonho today. Maybe I’m his replacement for Guanlin.” Minhyun laughed awkwardly, looking down and scuffing his shoe against the floor. Guanlin was amazed that they could hear even that sound through the receiver. From their view, Guanlin and Seonho could see Jonghyun shifting as he sat as well, although both parties’ body language clearly showed that they were giving each other their full attention.

Seonho giggled. “They are soooo awkward.”

“Good thing we decided to help them out,” Guanlin agreed.

“Well, you know how kids are these days, always looking for the newest, shiniest thing.” Jonghyun was talking again and the two boys hidden in the bush turned their heads again to pay attention. Jonghyun seemed to realize what he implied and rushed to amend himself. “Not that you’re not new and shiny! That’s not what I meant!”

Minhyun shrugged. “I’m not anymore.  _ We _ aren’t anymore. University must have aged me a decade in one year.”

“You can say that again. Those kids deserve to run around without a care in the world while they have the chance.” Jonghyun glanced at his wrist. “That’s probably why Guanlin is running late today.”

Guanlin and Seonho looked at each other. “Not quite,” Guanlin said smugly.

“Seonho is late every time he asks to hang out, I don’t know why I bothered to show up on time today, knowing him.” Minhyun replied. It looked like the two of them were smiling at each other.

“That’s not true!” Seonho protested.

“That’s debatable,” Guanlin said. He received a pinch on the arm for his words.

“Well, as long as they aren’t here, why don’t you wait with me?” Jonghyun seemed to hesitant to continue.

Guanlin watched, dumbfounded. “My god, is Jonghyun the one making the move?”

“Minhyun hyung, I thought you were better than this! Letting  _ Jonghyun _ , romantically constipated  _ Jonghyun  _ take the lead?” Seonho lamented.

Minhyun was sliding into the chair across from him when Jonghyun finally resolved to finish his thought. “You must be hungry,” Jonghyun began, “I ordered these ribs for Guanlin, but I can just order more for him when he gets here. You can have these.” Through sticks, leaves, street poles, and the glass window, Guanlin saw Jonghyun duck his head and shove the dish towards Minhyun. “I know they’re your favorite.”

Gunalin couldn’t stop himself, he fucking  _ whooped _ . “That’s my BOY,” he cheered. Luckily there was no one in the park or on the street within earshot to notice the shouting bush. Beside him Seonho was still groaning. Of course, that was the moment when their audio feed chose to start cutting out. Minhyun was saying something and pushing the ribs away from him, but Jonghyun pushed them back. After a bit of this back and forth exchange, Jonghyun must have said something to convince the other man, because as soon as he spoke, Minhyun was hastily grabbing the dish and eating obediently. The entire time Guanlin was watching this (the greatest silent film of his life), Seonho was squawking things like “WHY NOW??”, “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”, and “WHAT WAS SAID!!!”.

“Just shut up and watch,” Guanlin hissed out the side of his mouth, although he too would have killed to know what Jonghyun said to Minhyun to change the other’s mind so fast.

“Hmph,” Seonho replied, but he quieted down.

Eventually their audio returned. The pair in the cafe seemed to be talking about... “Wow, they’re literally talking about the weather,” Seonho dead-panned.

Indeed, Jonghyun was commenting on recent cooler temperatures. “Pretty soon it’ll be snowing again.”

Minhyun’s smile was clear even from across the street. “Ahh, I love the first snowfall. There’s something so romantic about it.” (“I think Jonghyun hyung is blushing,” Guanlin snickered.)

“I suppose if you feel that way, it must be true,” Jonghyun said. It did appear that he was blushing.

“W-what makes you say that?” Minhyun replied.

“Well aren’t you the most romantic out of our friends?”

“I thought Minki had that title,” Minhyun joked.

“He’s a diva, not a romantic.” Jonghyun pointed out.

“What, is that not good enough for you?” Minhyun’s tone was still teasing. Seonho elbowed Guanlin and wiggled his eyebrows as if to say  _ it’s getting good _ .

Jonghyun replied, “Nah, personally I prefer a guy with more sensitivity.” Both men stilled as soon as the words were out of his mouth. “Um,” Jonghyun said after a couple beats.

“Aaaand, that’s my cue to make some real action happen,” Seonho said. Before Guanlin knew what was happening, Seonho had creeped out of the bushes and was sprinting across the street towards The Sleeptalker in a flurry of gangly limbs. “Wait, Seonho! What are you doing?!” Guanlin barely had time to protest before his best friend was flying into the cafe like a hurricane. Unsurprisingly, Jonghyun and Minhyun both whipped their heads towards him. In fact, the whole cafe’s attention was on him. Guanlin was going to have a migraine. What in the world was that fool doing?! The hyungs had been doing fine on their own, quite miraculously. Seonho was about to mess everything up!

Seonho’s voice started coming through the phone in Guanlin’s hand, first quietly and then louder as he approached Jonghyun and Minhyun’s table. Then it dawned on Guanlin that Seonho was actually delivering an Academy award winning acting performance.

“..my gosh Minhyun hyung I’m SO sorry I’m late,” Seonho began, his hands cradling either side of his head. “I didn’t realize I had bathroom cleaning duty this week and I had to do it before I came to meet you. I swear I’ve never run so fast with a mop befor- WAIT,” Seonho cut off his own monologue, flapping his arms everywhere. “That’s Jonghyun hyung- IS THIS A DATE?!?!” he shrieked. He practically squealed before continuing, not giving them any chance to interject. “I’m so happy for you guys, why didn’t you tell me!? We were all waiting for it to happen, I mean  _ finally _ , you guys were  _ so obvious _ . Ugh I just can’t get over how cute you two are!” Guanlin was in hysterics by now, and sneaking a glance at Aaron at the counter, he could see the older man was too. The cafe owner was bent over his register in laughter, in fact. Jonghyun and Minhyun didn’t seem to notice anything off about Aaron laughing his ass off, or maybe they didn’t even notice it in the first place, because they were both truly red and flustered at this point.

At some point Seonho had wandered all the way to the table where their two hyungs were sat and thrown himself against it in dramatics. Guanlin looked carefully and realized that he was actually removing his phone from where he had taped it earlier. His brows shot up. Seonho was a sly fox and a scheming mastermind.

“Sorry, I must be interrupting your  _ date _ ”, Seonho said, putting emphasis on the last word.  “I’ll just go now. Minhyunnie hyung, I’m so proud of you!” He flounced out the door with both hands in the air to show just how proud he was. The next thing he did was dash down the street and around the corner. As his friend turned out of sight, his giddy voice came through Guanlin’s speaker. “Private Yoo speaking, reporting that the seed has been successfully planted. All units make a tactical retreat.” He ended his report with a giggle. Guanlin resisted a snort. Seonho was probably the most ditzy, adorable soldier in the world.

He switched his his phone off mute. “Copy that. Private Yoo, you’re a war hero.” He replied. He heard Seonho’s laugh again as he extricated himself from bush, careful not to be seen. When he got a glimpse of Seonho waiting for him down the street, something inside possessed him to tackle the other boy, burying him in a huge hug. After they had finished spinning around on the sidewalk like idiots, Guanlin pulled away. “You might deserve an Oscar for that one,” he proclaimed.

“Yeah, well,” Seonho bit his lip, “I was struck by divine inspiration.”

“It looks like Jonghyun was right, it’s getting cold out.” Guanlin said. “Your cheeks are rosy.”

Seonho looked at him weird. “Are they?” He brought his hands to his face to check. “I don’t think so.”

They were clearly pink, but Guanlin shrugged and let it go. “Do you think it worked?”

“I swear, if it doesn’t I don’t know what will.”

 

\---

 

It was the next Monday, and Guanlin was tapping his foot in Chemistry. Usually he would devote all his attention to the lecture, but he was distracted today. He had just received a Very Important text that he was itching to show to Seonho. (Hint: it was from Jonghyun.) The bell finally rang, signalling lunch period, and he booked it out of class. He was in a rush to get to the cafeteria, but on a whim he stopped by a vending machine and bought a pack of Seonho’s favorite snacks. They deserved to celebrate.

When everyone was sat around the table, Guanlin called for silence. Of course Haknyeon and Samuel ignored him and continued to go on about how screwed they were for the math test. Guanlin continued regardless, by this point having grown used to this behavior. Seonho was listening, which was what mattered. “Let me just read this text exchange between me and Jonghyun hyung.”

“Your tutor, right?” Jinyoung asked. The boys had already been filled in on their mission to get ‘the two hyungs’ together, but Jinyoung was just checking to make sure.

Guanlin nodded. He began to read from his phone. “So I texted him, ‘hyung, I heard from Seonho that you were on a date with Minhyun hyung today, so it’s okay to cancel the tutoring session today, right? p.s. I’m happy for you guys!!’ ...and then he saw it but he didn’t respond until I was in chem class just now. He wrote, ‘Actually, what Seonho told you about wasn’t a date, it was just coincidence that Minhyun was there. We actually confessed after he assumed that it was a date- he put an embarrassed emoji after that- and we’re going on our first official date in a couple days. And thank you! Smiling emoji.’” His audience at the table looked impressed.

“We really did it!” Seonho cheered. “We’re the best! Haknyeon you should hire us to work our magic for you and Euiwoong.” 

“Shut up Seonho! And don’t say it so loud!”

Guanlin put the snacks down in front of Seonho. “In celebration,” he explained.

“Aw Guanlin, you’re best, you know that?” Seonho squeezed him so hard Guanlin feared for his circulation.

(Unseen to our two protagonists, everyone else at the table exchanged looks. “So they got their hyungs together, but when are they gonna get themselves together?” Jihoon muttered. The rest of the friends nodded sagely.)

 

.

.

.

 

After Credits Scene

 

Jonghyun and Minhyun were sprawled out on Minhyun’s bed, surrounded by so many books and medical research texts that it may as well have been a library. That’s what you got when you combined an English major with a pre-med student. Minhyun had his head under the pillow, groaning about one bodily function or another.

“Mr. Romantic, look up, there’s something you might like.” 

“Huh?” Minhyun raised his head from the pillow.

“It’s the first snow.” Jonghyun was gazing out the window with a soft smile. Indeed, papery white snow was fluttering down from the sky, disappearing as soon as it brushed against the window sill.

Minhyun’s heart lurched. He kept quiet, watching the beautiful sight before him. And this year he didn’t mean the snow.

Jonghyun finally turned to look at him. “It  _ is _ rather romantic,” he said.

“This year it’s because of you,” Minhyun said, shifting to cuddle onto Jonghyun’s chest (partially so that Jonghyun wouldn’t see his face getting red over how cheesy his words were). There was silence for a time while they were both smiling so hard it hurt, remembering the first time they talked about first snows.

“Do you think they planned it?” Jonghyun said.

“Planned what?”

“When Seonho was gonna meet you to hangout and I was gonna tutor Guanlin, but then Seonho got there late and mistook us eating together for a date.”

“Oh, that?” Minhyun paused and thought about it. “Nah, there’s no way they could have planned something like that. Seonho is too much of a walking disaster.”

“And Guanlin is too emotionally constipated,” Jonghyun added.

“That too.”

“My brain is fried. I don’t think I could write another sentence if someone held me at gunpoint.”

“...wanna go outside and take pictures of the snow?”

“You’re a real romantic, you know that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays everyone! I hope you're doing well, taking care of yourself, and surrounding yourself with people and activities that you love. Yes, it's been a reaaaaaaally long time since I've updated, but somehow, against all odds, I've resurfaced. Stick around for the next update!
> 
> Some good old 2hyun never hurt anyone :) And I hope the boys will be able to get some rest after awards season is over.


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